International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA) 

The International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA) is a historic and unprecedented effort by the United States to comprehensively address violence against women worldwide. Originally introduced, but not passed, in the 110^th Congress (H.R. 5927/ S. 2279) it is a direct response to the startling statistics that one out of every three women will be physically, sexually or otherwise abused during her lifetime, with rates reaching 70% in some countries. I-VAWA would direct the U.S. government to create a comprehensive, five-year strategy to reducing such violence in 10-20 diverse countries that have egregious levels of violence against women and girls. This important legislation will put the issue in its proper context as a human rights violation of epidemic proportions. In addition, it will tackle the life-threatening challenges of extreme poverty, HIV/AIDS and other health risks that affect the well-being of women and girls worldwide.

On February 4^th, 2010, the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA) was reintroduced by bipartisan teams in both the House (H.R. 4594) and Senate (S. 2982). In the House by Representative Bill Delahunt (D-MA), Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee on Europe and Representative Ted Poe (R-TX), Co-chair of the Congressional Victims’ Rights Caucus and in the Senate, by Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senators Boxer (D-CA), Collins (R-ME) and Snowe (R-ME).

This critical legislation will commit the United States to address rape as a weapon of war, sexual coercion, domestic violence, honor killings, dowry related deaths, female genital cutting, human trafficking, and economic conditions that can oppress women – on a global scale. JWI has joined a broad-based coalition including the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF), Women Thrive Worldwide and Amnesty International USA to galvanize grassroots support around the swift passage of this bill.