Summit County Citizens Voice

Humaira Awais Shahid strives for women's rights in the Punjab assembly.

Groups join forces to win support for the International Violence Against Women Act

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Three nonprofit groups are teaming up for a 31-day campaign to spur support for the bipartisan International Violence Against Women Act. The bill was introduced in Congress in February 2010, but still lacks crucial support, according to Anna Salinas, of Women Thrive Worldwide.

The goal of the campaign, fueled in part by a social media blitz on Twitter and Facebook, is to gain additional support for the measure. Amnesty International and the Family Violence Prevention Fund are also part of the effort. Get more information here.

Salinas said the grassroots, online activism is already paying off, as Dave Reichert, a Washington Republican, recently signed on to co-sponsor the bill.

A few simple facts show why the law is needed. One in three of the world’s women will be violated or sexually abused during her lifetime, according to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. In some countries, women face a 71 percent likelihood of violence across their lifetime.

Women around the world are taking part in the 31 Days of Action campaign, including Humaira Awais Shahid, who gained international recognition as the first parliamentarian of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab to pass a law and repeal an existing one. The process that took four years due to significant government opposition.

As a journalist, Humaira exposed cases of stove burning, child prostitution, and rape in her country. She also rose to success in the field, serving as editor-in-chief of The Post and of the women’s section in the Daily Khabrain, both English-language Pakistani newspapers.

As a member of the parliamentary assembly, Humaira spoke eloquently of the need for reform in a country not exactly known for human rights.

“My voice today is not just an individual voice. My voice expresses the pain and suffering of millions of women who are battered into subjugation. I am the voice of women disfigured by acid attacks. I am the voice of millions of women who are raped and then end up marrying their rapists because they cannot bear the social stigma of being dishonored. I am the voice of women who are forced into marriages to make up for crimes committed by their husbands and fathers.

““I was moved to action by a woman who walked into my office and stripped off her clothes, revealing a body which was blue due to a gang rape, covered with wounds, and cigarette burns. With tears in her eyes she said, ‘My husband hired these three men and got me raped in front of him because I was tired of his abuse and demanded that Islam gave me a right to divorce. He didn’t even respect that I was the mother of his children … Please get me justice, I just want justice in the name of God!”

Filed under: Summit County Colorado Tagged: | Amnesty International, ending violence against women, human rights, Summit County News, Women Thrive Worldwide, womens' rights