Hillary's Uphill Fight Against Sexual Violence
Posted 8/22/2009 8:04 PM CDT
Hillary Clinton has arguably done more to combat sexual violence in Africa in her short time as Secretary of
State than the entire U.N. has in the last decade. Mrs. Clinton had this to say about visiting the Congo and
witnessing the aftermath of the brutality of life there:
While I was in the DRC, I had very frank discussions about sexual violence with President Kabila. I stressed
that the perpetrators of these crimes, no matter who they are, must be prosecuted and punished. This is
particularly important when they are in positions of authority, including members of the Congolese military,
who have been allowed to commit these crimes with impunity.
There are lessons that people in the U.S. and the rest of the civilized world can learn simply from reading
this single paragraph. We do not have to visit Africa and see the mauled and maimed women first-hand to
realize that, whatever our differences politically, we really have a minimal number of problems to deal with
in our lives and that it is our general adherence to the rule of law, with all of its compulsions and flaws, that
creates the sense - and more than that, the reality - of security most westerners enjoy day in and day out.
Yet even here freedom and safety is not universal. I'll discuss below the latest court case regarding the
practice of Islamic honor killings.
While abroad, Mrs. Clinton had some good news to offer the women of the Congo:
The United States will stand with these brave people. This week I announced more than $17 million in new
funding to prevent and respond to gender and sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We will
provide medical care, counseling, economic assistance and legal support. We will dedicate nearly $3 million
to recruit and train police officers to protect women and girls and to investigate sexual violence. We will
send technology experts to help women and front-line workers report abuse using photographs and video
and share information on treatment and legal options. And we will deploy a team of civilian experts, medical
personnel and military engineers to assess how we can further assist survivors of sexual violence.
This is an achievement that deserves to be recognized. Unfortunately, $17M will not go far in Africa and it
will not go far enough to bring justice to the men who deserve its wrath.
Mrs. Clinton's struggle for funds and for achievements on the ground is, if she hopes to win it, just
beginning. We should all wish her luck. Of all the billions of dollars the Democratic Congress is spending on
their pet projects and will continue to spend, none of them are more deserving that these few.
Such a fight is necessarily an uphill battle, as Riqba Bary seems almost certain to learn. Bary, who is 17
and a former Muslim, ran away from her Ohio home in fear of her life after embracing Christianity and being
baptized. Now a court that surely must know better is apparently poised to force her to return to Ohio
despite her desperate pleas to remain away from her parents.
Riqba's reason? She believes her parents will make her the latest victim of an Islamic honor killing.
"If I had stayed in Ohio, I wouldn't be alive," she said. "In 150 generations in family, no one has known
Jesus. I am the first — imagine the honor in killing me.
"There is great honor in that, because if they love Allah more than me, they have to do it. It's in the Koran"
I'll leave the issue of Islamic theology aside for the moment to focus on the reality of Ms. Bary's situation,
which is that women and girls who reject their Muslim faith to live as they see fit in their new homes are
frequently the subjects of horrific forms of ritualized violence at the hands of the men in their lives.
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