On March 7, President Obama signed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, expanding protections for victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault. The renewal of the act, established in 1994 on the heels of the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, works to improve criminal justice and community-based responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking in the United States. The Act provides funding for investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposes automatic and mandatory restitution for victims and provides additional protections against violence and stalking, such as stalker databases and domestic violence hotlines. The Act also established the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice, emphasizing violence against women as a national priority.
One would assume an Act in the U.S. titled the 'Violence Against Women Act,' which advocates for the protection of victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault, to be reauthorized without question. Wrong.
Since its inception, the Act had been reauthorized by Congress without opposition until Apr. 2012, when the Act's renewal was opposed by conservative Republicans who objected to extending the Act's protections to same-sex couples, provisions for illegal aliens and equal access for American Indians. It seems as if human rights and protection from sexual violence and abuse are considered deserving to all people, everywhere, so as long as they are heterosexual, U.S. citizens not residing on Indian reservation property.
In Apr. 2012, as a form of attempted progress, the Senate reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act, while the House passed its own bill omitting provisions of the Senate bill that would protect same sex couples, American Indians living on reservations and illegal aliens who were victims of domestic violence. During this time, the bills obtained no reconciliation, which left the Act lacking reauthorization. The Act includes a provision that will speed up the analysis of DNA evidence in rape cases, which currently can take years to be completed due to a backlog estimated at 400,000 cases.
Ultimately, this story has a happy ending, with the Act being signed into reauthorization by President Obama who has reminded us of the continued fight against domestic and sexual violence, which pervades our society in alarmingly high numbers. Oddly enough, this wasn't a simple reinstatement of our values and commitment to gender equality, women's rights and ending domestic and sexual violence. This was a fight to justify this issue as one that demands U.S. policy intervention, government funding and support and public awareness.
The Violence Against Women Act became a struggle to prove to opposed legislators that proper restitution for victims of sexual abuse and domestic assault was a necessity and a right, that all human beings deserved the same protection from violence and abuse regardless of their sexual identity, national heritage or immigrant status.
An Act that was created for the sole protection from violence against women took close to a year to be passed by the Senate and the House and signed into reauthorization by President Obama. What does this say about how the leaders of our country view human rights, women's rights and violence as an abomination and detriment to all aspects of our society that should not be tolerated under any circumstance? How do we advocate with sincerity and authenticity against violence against women worldwide when we aren't on the same page about the priority and severity of the issue and its consequences at home?
What I fear is the reality that this is not a collective effort or a united front. As we continue to address women's issues concerning abortion, access to health care, equal pay and domestic violence, it is clear that the line has been drawn in the sand.
We will continue to fight for gender equality and the end of discriminatory policies that affect all aspects of our health, political, economic and social systems. We will fight for human rights, for equal pay for equal work, for freedom from discrimination and for health and well-being, regardless of race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.
Human rights are not merely awarded to those privileged individuals who happen to meet a certain criteria; human rights were established as fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being.
Keely Beck is a second-year Masters in Public Health student at the Rollins School of Public Health from Richmond, Va.
Read More
