Refusal to tolerate gender violence

End Torture, End Domestic Violence
by Rhonda Copelon
From On the Issues, Progressive Women’s Magazine Winter 2009
When one compares what is done to a woman in an advanced domestic battering cycle and to prisoners subjected to torture, the situations are frighteningly similar. But only recently have they begun to be equated legally and culturally.
How would the world [...]

White House Council on Women and Girls Established

March 11, 2009
White House Council on Women and Girls Established
U.S. President Barack Obama has signed an executive order creating a White House Council on Women and Girls, designed to ensure that federal agencies pay attention to the way their policies impact women and families.
President Obama said he wants to make clear that areas like equal [...]

Victim privacy at community based DV programs protected by law

If you are a battered woman, what you tell an advocate at a domestic violence program is private and protected by Colorado law.  What you tell a victim assistant who works for the district attorney or a law enforcement agency is not private.
We have had more reports from victims recently that they were barred from [...]

Justice Department Sues New Mexico Community College for Sexual Harassment of Former Employee

Friday, January 9, 2009
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/January/09-crt-022.html
WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice today filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in New Mexico against Luna Community College, alleging discrimination against former employee Charlene Ortiz-Cordova in the form of sexual harassment by a supervisor that resulted in a hostile work environment.
“Title VII protects women from discrimination in employment,” [...]

Female genital mutilation in the U.S.

From Womenshealth.gov
What is female genital cutting (FGC)?
Female genital cutting (FGC) is the collective name given to traditional practices that involve the partial or total cutting away of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genitals, whether for cultural or other non-therapeutic reasons. Historically, it has been also called “female genital mutilation” [...]

Freep: Sexual assault on women in Michigan prisons

Series in the Detroit Free Press on sexual assault on women in Michigan prisons:
Chapter 1 (Sunday): _Sexual assaults on female inmates went unheeded_
Chapter 2 (Monday): _The trial begins with everything at stake_
Chapter 3 (Tuesday): _Breaking the silence_
Chapter 4 (Wednesday): _A jury surprise_
Chapter 5 (Thursday): _A new life?_

Rape in Prison: The Forgotton Women

By Womanist Musings
Reprinted with permission from Womanist Musings
In the US the attitude when it comes to crime is lock up the prisoners and throw away the key.  The prison industrial complex has become a huge part of the US economy.  Once the bars slam on the cell few care what goes on behind the m.  [...]

Cross-country protest against femicide and other violence against women

Pain and Protest on the Day of the Butterflies: Violence Persists Against Women in Mexico
Frontera NorteSur
Thursday, December 4 2008
A 1995 novel by writer Julia Alvarez retold the story of the three Mirabal sisters brutally assassinated by the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic in 1960. Decades later, the date of the murders, Nov. 25, was declared [...]

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Says NO to Violence against Women

November 19, 2008
 
Yesterday in Washington, DC, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice added her name to the UNIFEM-led Say NO to Violence against Women campaign. Her statement follows:
“One year ago, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) began its global campaign to advocate among publics and governments for an end to violence against women. In [...]

Nov. 25 – International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Violence against women continues to persist as one of the most heinous, systematic and prevalent human rights abuses in the world. It is a threat to all women, and an obstacle to all our efforts for development, peace and gender equality in all societies. -Secretary General of the United Nations , Ban Ki-moon
The United Nations [...]

U.S. v. Hayes: Showdown over wife-beating and guns

Guns again
November 13, 2008
Charleston Gazette Editorial
West Virginia is at the heart of a national showdown over wife-beating and guns.
Charleston lawyer Troy Giatras went before the U.S. Supreme Court to defend a Marion County construction worker who was convicted of misdemeanor battery of his wife in 1994 – then was found to have a rifle when [...]

Domestic violence: human rights violation

This case serves as a reminder that the need for the US to engage with human rights is not an academic exercise. The human rights framework offers hope to women in this country, and indeed to everyone, that they have someplace to turn if they are denied help in their own country and that they [...]

Connecticut Man Sentenced to 360 Months in Prison for Sex Trafficking of U.S. Citizens

Connecticut Man Sentenced to 360 Months in Prison for Leading Brutal Sex Trafficking Ring That Victimized U.S. Citizens
Prosecution Illustrates DOJ ‘Victim-Centered’ Model
WASHINGTON – Dennis Paris of Middletown, Conn., was sentenced today to 360 months in prison, five years of supervised release and $46,116 in restitution for his role in organizing and facilitating a prostitution ring [...]

Rural law response to SA and DV victims inconsistent and inadequate

An article about Iowa’s state coalitions helping sexual assault and domestic violence victims highlights some of the differences between law enforcement and criminal justice system response in urban and rural areas. In discussing the budget and service problems with state representatives, CAASA representatives said that the state’s court system is lacking:
“Des Moines calls our judges [...]

Woman killed after police failed to arrest man who violated restraining order

One day before Andres Vargas shot his wife Bonnie with an assault rifle, San Antonio police contacted Vargas and told him to leave his wife alone, but did not arrest him for violating Bonnie’s protective order.
Last year, all officers were told to secure arrest warrants immediately for most family violence suspects, including those who commit [...]

Law enforcement response after Macias

The Purple Beret web site has a story on what, if anything, changed in Sonoma County, California, after the Maria Teresa Macias case. 
In October 1996 the Macias civil rights lawsuit was filed against the Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Ihde. The suit claimed that the Sheriff’s Department repeatedly denied Maria Teresa Macias’ constitutional right to equal protection in its [...]

Five Women Buried Alive – Media Ignore It

Five Women Buried Alive — and the Media Ignore It
Riane Eisler, Source AlterNet. September 6, 2008
Last month, the U.S. media were full of stories about the resignation of Pervez Musharraf as president of Pakistan. But another event that same week in Pakistan — that tribesmen buried five young women alive for wanting to choose their [...]

Judges must explain reasons when denying restraining orders in domestic violence cases

California Chronicle
California Political Desk
August 26, 2008
SACRAMENTO – Governor Schwarzenegger recently signed Assemblyman Jose Solorio’s (D-Anaheim) Assembly Bill 2553. The new law requires judges to explain their reasons if denying temporary retraining orders in domestic violence cases. The bill was signed just before the California budget impasse prompted the Governor’s decree to not sign any legislation [...]

Backlash against VAWA

Now that Joe Biden, the author of the Violence Against Women Act, is the candidate for Vice President, “father’s rights” organizations, which have spearheaded the backlash against programs for victims of domestic violence, are using the presidential campaign as an excuse to promote their anti-VAWA propaganda.
For example, an article entitled “American dads, think twice before [...]

Sexual assault in the military – a coverup?

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080801_sexual_assault_in_the_military_a_dod_cover_up/
By Col. Ann Wright
There was quite a struggle in Congress this week. The Department of Defense refused to allow the senior civilian in charge of its Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) to testify in Thursday’s hearing on sexual assault in the military. Rep. John Tierney, chair of the House Subcommittee on National Security [...]