VAWA; Historic Law Continues to Help Women and Girls

Floor Speech

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, this week we mark the 20th anniversary of enactment of the Violence Against Women Act, which was signed on September 20, 1994. I supported and continue to strongly support this law. I voted to create the programs in 1994 and helped ensure enactment of the first reauthorization in 2000 by attaching it to my anti-trafficking law--the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act (PL 106-386/TVPA). I also cosponsored the 2005 reauthorization, fought to ensure these programs are fully funded to assist the maximum number of victims and voted for seven of the first seven VAWA reauthorization bills offered through 2012.

All of these efforts have helped draw national attention to the epidemic of domestic violence and invested significant resources to prevent domestic violence, assist the women and children who fall victim to it, and improve our justice system's response.

Millions of victims have been helped by VAWA, but more remains to be done.

The release of a video last week of then-Baltimore Ravens runningback Ray Rice assaulting his now wife in an elevator in Atlantic City horrified us all. I, like most Americans, was shocked and disgusted by the unacceptable brutality and violence captured on the video. But regrettably, the violence exposed does not represent a rare, isolated incident but rather an exploitation that remains all too prevalent in our modern day society.

VAWA is one component of a solution, but we must work harder and have a more robust national conversation on the culture of violence in America and how we can better protect vulnerable women and children.

Of course, acts of violence against women and children are not a uniquely American problem. Around the world, women and children are abused and assaulted, and in many places, unable to receive any form of assistance or hold perpetrators to account. In conflict zones rape is used as a weapon of war and intimidation. Modern day slavery continues as traffickers sell women as commodities. Gendercide, where babies are aborted based exclusively on their sex, is common-place in many cultures, particularly in China.

Again, Mr. Speaker, we can, and must, do better.

In 2000, when VAWA was up for renewal and there was a concern that it may not pass, I helped secure its enactment by attaching the reauthorization bill in it entirety to my landmark TVPA. The TVPA was a significant breakthrough--for the first time we put significant U.S. resources and the real force of law towards the prosecution of those who sexually exploit and traffic women and children and significant resources towards shelters and treatment for women abused both here in the U.S. and around the world. Simultaneously we reauthorized the VAWA programs; enacted ``Aimee's Law'' under which any state that prematurely releases violent criminals will be forced to reimburse another state if the criminal repeats the crime; and expanded the scope of Megan's Law so that it covered college campuses.

The version of VAWA that was signed into law last year reauthorized some of these antihuman trafficking programs but unfortunately gutted the State Department's Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Office. As I stated at the time, these provisions: ``represents a significant retreat in the struggle to end human trafficking.''

The TIP Office is an extraordinary advocacy mechanism and has had a huge impact worldwide. In addition to `best practices' advocacy, the office monitors labor and sex trafficking in every country of the world pursuant to minimum standards prescribed in the TVPA and makes recommendations for whether or not countries should be ranked Tier I, Tier II Watch List or Tier III. Countries with bad records and who fail to make `serious and sustained' efforts to improve are designated Tier 3--the worst ranking--which may result in sanctions.

For over a decade the TIP Office has been the flagship in our struggle to combat the violence of human trafficking, and demoting our anti-trafficking efforts, as PL 113-4 did, was wrong and must be addressed. On behalf of the women and children who fall victim to the soulless traffickers every year, we need to ensure these efforts remain a top priority.

Accordingly, I authored, and the House passed the Human Trafficking Prioritization Act (H.R. 2283) to raise the profile and influence of the TIP Office by making it a bureau within the State Department. My bill is pending in the Senate.

Mr. Speaker, the House has also passed my first of its kind anti-sex tourism bill this year, my International Megan's Law to Prevent Demand for Sex Trafficking (H.R. 4573)--as part of a phenomenal package of legislation that builds on our efforts to end the exploitation of and violence against women and children.

H.R. 4573 will combat child sex tourism by alerting countries of destination concerning the travel plans of convicted U.S. pedophiles. And to protect American children, the bill encourages the President to use bilateral agreements and assistance to establish reciprocal notification so that we will know when convicted child-sex offenders are planning to come to the U.S.

The legislation is named for Megan Kanka, a 7-year-old from Hamilton, NJ, who was kidnapped, raped, and brutally murdered in 1994. Megan's assailant was a convicted, repeat sex offender living across the street, unbeknownst to residents in the neighborhood. Due to public outcry in response to the tragedy and to the hard work by Megan's loving parents, Richard and Maureen Kanka, the New Jersey State Legislature passed the original Megan's Law to require public notification of convicted sex offenders living in the community. Today, all 50 States and all the territories have a ``Megan's Law'', an important tool in preventing more children from becoming victims.

My International Megan's Law takes the lessons we have learned on how to protect our children from known child sex predators within our borders and expands those protections globally.

The Senate, thus far, has yet to act on these important bills--as well as the many other anti-trafficking measures we've passed.

The Majority Leader has an opportunity right now to send a strong message. On the anniversary of VAWA and as we approach Domestic Violence Awareness month, I call on Majority Leader REID to bring these bills to the floor.

As the nation is focused on the NFL's response to the horrific abuse perpetrated by a few of its players, HARRY REID can set an example of how organizations can act, deliberately and aggressively, to end the culture of violence that harms women and children.

Source