"It’s Not Cultural; It’s Criminal"

Spoken by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the recent meeting with the United Nations Security Council, it’s a phrase that still rings in my ears. "Violence against women is not cultural; it’s criminal." Here's some recent action dealing with violence against women around the world:

- In eight states and the District of Columbia health insurance companies can deny you health care coverage sighting domestic violence as a pre-existing condition. Senator Patty Murray is doing something about it.

In an effort to halt these practices and to further assist women, Senator Patty Murray has introduced legislation, along with Senators Sherrod Brown and Chris Dodd. The Security and Financial Empowerment (SAFE) Act allows a victim to take time off from work, without penalty from their employers, ensures that victims can retain the financial independence necessary to leave their abusers, and prohibits employers or insurance providers from basing hiring or coverage decisions on a victim’s history of abuse.

Read more about the SAFE Act here.

- A 19 year-old woman is gang raped by her colleagues while on a mission in Iraq. She was then locked up in a crate when she tried to report them. After being freed she returned to America only to find out that the company that sent her to Iraq had protected themselves from lawsuits in the small print of her contract. The company is KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton. The men have not been charged.

This week, Senator Al Franken acted to prevent this injustice from happening again. The Senate is currently debating the Department of Defense appropriations bill and he sponsored an amendment, S. Amend. 2566, which prohibits companies from further injustices. His amendment passed 68 to 30.

- Hillary calls violence by Guinea's government "criminality of the greatest degree". Military leader Moussa Dadis Camara's troops opened fire on a rally at a stadium in the capital Conakry on September 28. A local human rights group said 157 were killed and hundreds wounded and many women were raped on the streets by the troops. "We were appalled and outraged by the recent violence in Guinea," Clinton said during a news conference with Pakistan's foreign minister. "The indiscriminate killing and raping ... by government troops was a vile violation of the rights of the people of that country." The State Department is taking this very seriously. "We intend to pursue appropriate actions against the current administration in that country," Clinton said.

Read more on the violence in Guinea here.

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Comment by murielschnierow on October 28, 2009 at 12:54pm: Re "Its not cultural it is criminal Womens Rights are Human Rights" Absolutely true.
Thank you
Muriel Schnierow

Comment by Astrel K Fort on October 13, 2009 at 11:38am: Woman, you are so kind
By Astrel .K. Fort
Woman is the wording light because she has producing man, and woman. However, woman should not be inferior then man. Seeing that, the birth is giving, to both male, and female, by a woman
In addition, in the life in general woman should not discriminate because; they are the essence of life.
Important, according to an article The Child Birth Owen said that,” During a natural birth, the muscles in the uterus (womb) contract and, it are this contraction that's think as labor pains. Labor is a painful experience, but breathing techniques learned in antenatal classes can make early labour less stressful.”
For instance, woman should be treating with respect and worthiness because they went to a terrible pain to bring man to this world. Evidently, to day in the American the modernizing society, man continuously discriminates against woman because man fears the supper power of the woman intelligent.
Significantly, man and woman are creating equally, their both creatures resembling with the image of God. Seeing that, woman precisely created by God, in accordance they should not be distinction among the two. Clearly, God loves woman and man because he is his creator.
Furthermore, woman right is the fundamental principle of the basic life. Accordingly, the local or states official have right to control their lives. Cause, the civil right law is preventing those individual to violate human right.
According to a article the protection of human right Kaitel said, and argues aggressively that,”
Every person entitled to their rights – simply by the fact that they are a human being. They are "rights" because they are specified items he or she allowed to be, to do, or to have. These rights are there for hem protection against people who might want to harm or hurt them. They are also there to help him or her get along with each other and live peacefully.”
In deed, man and the sex couples have right to get married to whatever States they are choosing. Obviously, their rights does not restricting because they are human being. Most clearly, they have right to get married every where in America because this Land is the foundation of democracy. In addition, as far as America concerns no body should tell American what to with their right. Let’s keep on fighting together America will wins.

Comment by susan ziegler on October 12, 2009 at 7:15pm: "It's Not Cultural, It's Criminal!"
"Women's Rights are Human Rights!"

Short, Simple, and ABSOLUTELY True!!!

Thank You Hillary.

Comment by R.Freeborn on October 10, 2009 at 10:46pm: Language is powerful and it is time to remove the word "domestic" from what happens to women in this country and call it for the hate crime it is. It does not matter if it is done by a "relative" It is so good to see Hillary Clinton taking a stand on these issues and the language used such as "cultural" The marginalizing of women by using such language with regard to the violence and oppression used against them is on its own a crime.

It is a bigger crime to say that domestic violence is a pre existing condition or to re victimize the woman by withholding employment from her because of crimes committed against her. I am shocked that we are still fighting such battles of obvious discrimination. There is no one better though to stand up at this moment in history than Hillary Clinton and she is doing just that.

Comment by Susan Bouchard on October 8, 2009 at 7:33pm: WOW!
It is so good to hear that many people are working hard to defend women. Thanks to; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senator Patty Murray, and Senator Al Franken.

Who took the time to think up "domestic violence as a pre-existing condition"? I wonder what kind of bonus they got...
The doctors, that have eliminated the insurance companies, have the right idea. When that becomes popular again then the insurance companies may get the hint.

Isn’t it illegal to put any provision in any contract that promotes rape, or any illegal activity by employees? Any company that would put a provision in a contract that protects the company against illegal activities by employees against other employees is promoting illegal activities.

Sadly, one of the tactics of war is rape. The only thing that may be a deterrent, would be if the men feared castration for their actions.