I-VAWA will likely be taken up by the Senate in the next few weeks—with the August recess, the upcoming elections, and a packed legislative agenda, we need your help to make sure Congress votes on I-VAWA before year-end—don’t let this crucial bill to protect vulnerable women and girls fall by the wayside!

Support from members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—including Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA), and Senator Bob Corker (R-TN)—is key for I-VAWA to move forward. By reaching out to these Senators, particularly if you are a constituent, you can make a game-changing difference!

In less than 3 minutes, you can a) call-in; b) send a Facebook appeal; c) build the movement by telling your friends; d) transform the lives of women and girls facing horrific violence worldwide. Please see below for instructions and sample scripts.

CALL-IN DAY: MONDAY, JULY 26TH

Phone Numbers for Key Senators:

Senator Webb (D-VA): (202) 224-4024
Senator Lugar (R-IN): (202) 224-4814
Senator Isakson (R-GA): (202) 224-3643
Senator Corker (R-TN): (202) 224-3344

When you call: ask to speak with the staffer who handles women’s issues or foreign affairs. If you are a constituent, remember to mention that (and give your address).

SAMPLE SCRIPT:

“I’m calling to urge Senator _____ to support the International Violence Against Women Act.”

“I support this bill because:

• Violence against women and girls is a human rights violation occurring globally;
• At least one in every three women worldwide has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime; and
• The International Violence Against Women Act supports measures to prevent violence, protect survivors and bring perpetrators to justice.”

Feel free to add additional reasons you care about ending violence against women. Also, if you can’t call Monday—still call! Anytime next week will still be within the critical window of opportunity we have to move the Senate to action on I-VAWA.

POSTING MESSAGES ON FACEBOOK: ALL WEEK (July 26-30)

Facebook page links for key Senators:

Senator Webb: http://www.facebook.com/jimwebb
Senator Lugar: http://www.facebook.com/senatorlugar
Senator Corker: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bob-Corker/20966472424

SAMPLE MESSAGE:

One out of every three women worldwide will be physically, sexually, or otherwise abused during her lifetime. Please be a leader in helping end violence against women globally! Support and vote for the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA) this month!

Please share this action alert with your friends so they can help impact the lives of millions of women and girls at risk of violence. Thank you so much for all you do to make a difference!

We are at a critical moment for CEDAW ratification, but the window of opportunity is closing, and fast. We cannot allow the United States to continue to be one of only seven countries in the world that has not ratified CEDAW. We know that CEDAW works. Several countries, including Australia, Brazil, Morocco, South Africa, and Uganda have incorporated provisions in the CEDAW treaty into their constitutions and domestic legal codes. Additionally, Egypt, Jordan, Nicaragua, and Pakistan have all seen significant increases in literacy rates after improving access to education for girls and women. Click here to tell President Obama that the women and girls of the world can’t wait any longer—we need CEDAW now!

For many of us, reports on international violence against women seem distant and incomprehensible. On any given day, horrifying stories appear in the news: the systematic rape of women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, acid attacks on women in Afghanistan and Pakistan, brutal beatings and rapes of women targeted by Guinean soldiers suppressing a political demonstration. Sadly, these shocking incidences of violence are not isolated occurrences but a cruel reality for one third of the world’s women. No country is immune – the violence crosses all borders and affects women of all ages, social groups, religions, and classes. The hope that I-VAWA would offer women around the world includes:

• Increased efforts to prevent violence against women during conflict and in humanitarian settings
• Legal reform and commitment to finding perpetrators and bringing them to justice
• Strengthened capacity of organizations supporting survivors and providing vital services
• Expanded economic and educational opportunities that would reduce the vulnerability of women at risk of violence

On February 4, 2010 I-VAWA was reintroduced in the 111th Congress and its co-sponsors include Representatives Poe (R-TX), Delahunt (D-MA), and Schakowsky (D-IL); and Senators Kerry (D-MA), Snowe (R-ME), Boxer (D-CA) and Collins (R-ME). We need to build even stronger bipartisan support and momentum for this legislation. So please begin reaching out to your Senators and Representatives now to take action and help transform the lives of women and girls around the world.

Tahirih has been advocating for the passage of I-VAWA since it was first developed by Women Thrive Worldwide, Amnesty International USA, the Family Violence Prevention Fund and members of Congress. Please show your support by visiting www.amnestyusa.org/ivawa, www.womenthrive.org/ivawa, or www.endabuse.org to take action now!

Please urge your Senator today to endorse a bipartisan “sign-on” letter asking the Attorney General to review the flawed legal decision in Matter of A-T-, which threatens to leave women and girls fleeing gender-based persecution without protection.

The Tahirih Justice Center is advocating with other organizations and a broad spectrum of political allies to reverse this decision and to reaffirm the availability of protection in the United States for women and girls fleeing violent human rights abuses. In March, Tahirih held a Congressional Briefing to draw attention to Matter of A-T- and other alarming legal decisions that signal dangerous steps backward in gender-based asylum law in the United States.

Please email or call your Senator today (we especially need outreach to Republican Senators)—the deadline on this bipartisan sign-on letter is this Friday, April 25th:

• Send an email. Visit the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies’ online action page where you will find a draft email prepared and ready for you to personalize and send with a few clicks.
• Make a call. Call the United States Senate switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Senator’s office. Ask to speak with the staffer who covers immigration and/or human rights issues. Talking points for your call:
• Urge the Senator to endorse the bi-partisan sign-on letter currently being circulated by Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Carl Levin (D-MI) that asks the Attorney General to review a recent devastating decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals that unjustly denied protection to a young woman from Mali (Matter of A-T-).
• Offer to email the staffer a link to the sign-on letter to make sure it gets to the top of the staffer’s in-box: Download PDF
• Impress upon the staffer that the deadline for signatures is this Friday, April 25th. To sign on, the staffer should contact Dylan Williams in Senator Snowe’s office at 202-224-5097 or Kevin Glandon in Senator Levin’s office at 202-224-9103.
  The more Senators that sign on to the letter, the greater the pressure will be on the Attorney General to review the decision in this pivotal case!

This bipartisan bill, introduced by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE) and Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN)), would for the first time make ending global violence against women and girls a clear priority for the United States.

By directing the US government to create a coordinated, comprehensive, and concerted strategy to reduce violence, I-VAWA would have a powerful impact on the suffering of millions of women worldwide who face horrific abuses such as rape, domestic violence, acid burning, dowry deaths, honor killings, human trafficking, female genital mutilation, and other harmful practices.

Two Easy Ways You Can Take Action Today:

• Send an email. Visit Amnesty International USA’s Online Action Center where you will find draft emails already prepared and ready for you to personalize and send with a few simple clicks. You can also click through to find additional information and “talking points” about I-VAWA.
• Make a call. Call the Senate switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Senator’s office. Tell the staffer with whom you speak that you are calling to urge your Senator to co-sponsor the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA), S.2279, introduced by Senators Biden and Lugar.
• Either way, in less than 5 minutes, you can make a real difference! Staffers keep track of constituent viewpoints pro/con legislation, and every additional co-sponsor will help I-VAWA gain the momentum it needs to become law.

Senate Outreach to Prioritize

Advocates in Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming are especially asked to reach out to their Republican Senators. But even if you don’t live in one of the states named above, please email or call your Senators today—outreach to all new potential co-sponsors is helpful.

Also, please thank your Senators even if they are already co-sponsors! Knowing that a bill is a constituent priority can encourage a Senator to step up from co-sponsor to active champion. Visit the Library of Congress’ legislative information system to find an up-to-date list of current co-sponsors.

This week (March 10-14) is “I-VAWA Call-In Week,” but every week until I-VAWA passes is a week your call can make a critical difference in the lives of women and girls around the world!

Maria ’s boss at her worksite pressured her repeatedly to have sex with him. She always said no, but his persistence was frightening. Maria told her boss’s supervisor, but he did nothing to help. In fact, things got worse, as the harassment turned into stalking and then one day, her boss masturbated in front of her. Maria ran away, but never told the police because she was afraid they would ask about her immigration status. The boss is still working at the same company, still supervising other young women.

Olivia was sexually molested by a group of her co-workers. Because she did not have legal immigration status, she never called the police. Her attackers are still on the job.

Alisa, a seven year-old girl, was terrified as she witnessed her abusive father try to kill her mother—three times. Each time, afraid she would be deported and separated from her child (a fear fueled by the father’s own threats), Alisa’s mother refused to report the attempted murders to the police and warned her daughter to stay silent.
[Names given are pseudonyms]

Dear Friend,
Every week, Tahirih receives calls for help from women like those above who have been brutally beaten or raped (or both) and who are too afraid to call the police. All too often these victims’ fears are cruelly fueled by the perpetrators themselves, who threaten that if the victim speaks up, it is she, not the perpetrator, who will be jailed and punished. The women we hear from who do eventually call the police, often only call after they have literally been brought to the breaking point by repeated assaults. In our experience, a woman’s fear that her immigration status will be called into question by police, and that she could wind up deported rather than delivered from violence, is a powerful deterrent to crime-reporting and help-seeking.

That’s why the Tahirih Justice Center has been working so hard this session of the Virginia General Assembly to pass Senate Bill 441, which reassures immigrant victims and witnesses of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other crimes that if they come forward to report those crimes and cooperate with law enforcement they will not be asked about their immigration status. Tahirih helped draft the bill with input from law enforcement and in close collaboration with the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance (the statewide umbrella coalition representing Virginia’s 38 Sexual Assault Crisis Centers and 47 Domestic Violence Programs).

Tahirih feels strongly that SB 441 is a public safety imperative that would make a powerful—even life-saving—difference for the women and girls we serve. Our law enforcement allies likewise feel SB 441 would provide a tremendous boost to their ability to get violent predators off the street and out of our communities.

But we need your help—today—to get SB 441 passed. SB 441 passed easily out of the VA Senate but is having some close calls in the House. The bill is moving swiftly to the full House floor for a vote this Tuesday, March 4th. To ensure its passage, we will need every possible vote we can get.

Please take a moment today to call your Delegate and urge him/her to VOTE YES on SB 441! It’s very easy to weigh in—oftentimes all you have to say is “I’m a constituent, and I’m calling to urge the Delegate to support SB 441″ and the staff assistant will tally your call in the “pro” column on his/her notepad, thank you, and that’s it. And please forward this message!

To find out what Delegate represents you, please visit the General Assembly. Sample talking points are below.

We have a real chance here—together—to make a critical difference in the lives of immigrant survivors of violent crimes, and to improve public safety for all Virginia’s residents. Thank you very much for your help!

SAMPLE PHONE OR EMAIL SCRIPT

Hello my name is _______________. I am a constituent of the Delegate. I live/work in _____, Virginia. I am calling to urge the Delegate to SUPPORT SB 441.

SB 441 would help make sure immigrant crime victims feel safe reporting crimes to police, and that police are able to count on immigrant victim/witness cooperation to get dangerous predators off the street and out of our communities.

SB 441 is desperately needed to broadcast that Virginia places safety before status. With different towns considering or taking different approaches to immigration enforcement, SB 441 would be a powerful tool to combat confusion and reassure victims that wherever they are, they can count on the police to help.

PLEASE VOTE YES ON SB 441. THANK YOU.