Revisions to VAWA are an Attack on Women

From Breakthrough:

May 16, 2012 – Mallika Dutt, president and CEO of global human rights organization Breakthrough (www.breakthrough.tv), today released the following statement in response to the U.S. House of Representatives vote on H.R. 4970, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2012, which removes several key protections included in the version of the bill passed by the U.S. Senate.

“It is impossible to deny that a war on women is being waged in the United States. And as of today, it is impossible to deny that this war on women is a war on _all_ women in the United States, documented or otherwise. The version of the Violence Against Women Act approved today by the House explicitly and baselessly removes protections for those who need it most: immigrant women, LGBT individuals, and native Americans and Alaskans. As a founder of Sakhi, an anti-domestic violence group for the South Asian community, I have seen first hand how important these protections are for immigrant women. These are battles we thought we had won. These are rights we thought we had secured. Can we stand by as a nation while women are told that today only some of them have the human rights to safety and security? It’s time for those of us outraged by women’s human rights violations across borders and oceans to step up for all women’s human rights here at home.”

VIDEO: Mallika Dutt statement on the war on immigrant women, Birmingham, AL, March 23, 2012

bh