Sec. Clinton Vows to ‘Banish Sexual Violence’
EmailABC News' Elizabeth Gorman reports:
In a personal account of her trip to the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, Secretary Hillary Clinton reiterates her mission "to banish sexual violence," in an op-ed she penned for People.com today.
"Our commitment to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence did not begin with my visit to Goma, and it will not end with my departure," she writes.
Secretary Clinton's article comes two weeks after she began her first official tour of Africa, where was struck by the brutality of the war in the eastern Congo, and where she made her first public appeal to end gender violence there as the secretary of state.
She described the experience as an "incredibly emotional, overwhelming experience."
In the op-ed Secretary Clinton details a visit to a displacement camp in Goma, where she says that on average, 36 women are raped every day. She also visited a hospital where she spoke to pregnant women who were attacked.
"Many of these people have been robbed of their homes, possessions, families and, worst of all, their dignity," she says.
Then turning from a personal account to an official one, Secretary Clinton says "the United States condemns these attacks and all those who commit them and abet them. They are crimes against humanity."
Last week, Secretary Clinton committed the U.S. to $17 million in aid to victims of sexual crime in the DRC, which includes money for the investigation into the crimes and new technologies like cameras.
"We are redoubling our efforts to address the fundamental cause of this violence: the fighting that goes on and on in the eastern Congo. We will be taking additional steps at the United Nations and in concert with other nations to bring an end to this conflict."
The war in eastern Congo has left 5.4 million dead since 1998, according to Secretary Clinton.
On the same trip, the secretary of state made big headlines for "losing her cool," after she was asked by a Congolese student for her husband's opinion on African trade deals — rather than her own.
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Liberals believe that way to stop something from happening in a 3rd world country is to throw more of our tax dollars to them.
Lets just say that instead we decide to stop sending them money unless that something is addressed.
In fact lets stop sending our tax dollars out of our country until we have paid off our debts to China and Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: pbaz | August 21, 2009, 5:01 pm 5:01 pm
She is sickening. Who does she think she is? She “vows to banish sexual violence”? How does she propose to do that?
Posted by: QuackDebbie | August 21, 2009, 5:34 pm 5:34 pm
pbaz, How can you be so naive? President Bush threw billions of dollars at Iraq, and you are complaining about this?
Posted by: dataman | August 21, 2009, 5:37 pm 5:37 pm
re: “Banish Sexual Violence’” Good for Hillary. I’m happy to Help!
Posted by: WISDOM | August 21, 2009, 6:06 pm 6:06 pm
Like she can banish poverty. War. Racism (from EVERYONE). Druge use. Child abuse. We’ve made great strides in those, haven’t we?
But hey, it’s a great soundbyte.
Posted by: Eyes Open | August 21, 2009, 6:28 pm 6:28 pm
Correction: DRUG use. Oopsie.
Posted by: Eyes Open | August 21, 2009, 6:28 pm 6:28 pm
Oh what better way to save yourself from looking stupid from yelling at a college student by trying to start a crusade. Gotta keep the uber femenists happy, right?
Oh well…maybe we can use the money we’ve been giving to feed those in Africa for this crusade. Why not?
Posted by: Christopher | August 21, 2009, 7:12 pm 7:12 pm
She said it’s her mission. Visiting there and getting involved to show she and the US is committed to making a difference is wonderful.
Posted by: Lola | August 21, 2009, 7:16 pm 7:16 pm
This is why we needed a woman president of the most powerful country in the world. We need desperately to fight crimes against women and children around the world. Who could be more interested and sympathetic than a female. Wake up women,if you think these things can’t or don’t happen in every country you are very sadly mistaken… God Bless Hillary for caring.
Posted by: Betty McNeil | August 21, 2009, 8:50 pm 8:50 pm
What, she is FINALLY gonna neuter Bill!!! Right on! Somebody call Juanita Brodderick!!!
Posted by: Huh? | August 21, 2009, 9:27 pm 9:27 pm
Being robbed of one’s dignity is worse than being bereft of possessions and family? Typical rhetoric that makes no sense when someone actually stops to think about it.
Posted by: Publius | August 21, 2009, 9:27 pm 9:27 pm
EyesOpen, Your eyes are not so open, and your brain isn’t working too good either. You say, “Like she can banish poverty. War. Racism (from EVERYONE). Druge(sic) use. Child abuse. We’ve made great strides in those, haven’t we?
But hey, it’s a great soundbyte.”
And what do you propose, EyesOpen? If people don’t take a stand, things will not improve for those so harmed. Where would we be today if people didn’t object to slavery? Opening people eyes, as your nickname pretends to do, to sad realities of the world is what leaders do. When people are victimized, when their rights are violated, there is only a thin line before you are treated likewise. And then, EyesOpen, who will speak up for you?
Posted by: dataman | August 21, 2009, 10:48 pm 10:48 pm
C’on people, look, I’m strongly against Sexual Violence period, but to to as far as saying “Banish”? I don’t think it’s our place to “Banish Sexual Violence” in the Congo. I agree with most of you and I disagree with some of you: I don’t think we need to pour Millions or even Billions of dollars to Banish Sexual Violence in the Congo, especially when our own economy is struggling as it is and the jobless rate has hit double digits in many states across the country. HOWEVER, that does not mean we should turn a blind eye to it either.
Posted by: Independent(Tiny bit right) | August 21, 2009, 11:38 pm 11:38 pm
Funny, some of you have no problem spending billions to be greeted as “Liberators”, but to stop the systematic rape and mutilation of women, you all become fiscally responsible! Says alot about your values!
Posted by: Try the truth | August 22, 2009, 12:32 am 12:32 am
PRESIDENT HILLARY CLINTON – we need to make this happen!!
Posted by: At least SHE cares | August 22, 2009, 12:37 am 12:37 am
I think liberals can and do accomplish good things, but they suck at dealing with this type of tyranny. The only thing that will stop 36 rapes a day in that camp is to execute the men doing the raping.
Posted by: Ozarkess | August 22, 2009, 6:50 am 6:50 am
Too many exclamation marks, ya’ll need to chill out a little and not let your emotions get the best of you. I don’t know about calling ourselves liberators, but I personally rather bring the fight to them.
You might have something here Ozarkess, but execute, humm, a little a bit much. What if they remove the “tool” off the assailant? I think that would make them think twice if they their friends urinating out of a straw. I wouldn’t mind paying for a few Bowie knives to send over there.
Posted by: The Independent | August 23, 2009, 5:00 pm 5:00 pm
There is currently on the books in the US an act called the Violence Against Women act, and it deals with sexual violence. The use of rape in the Congo has been systematically employed to destroy the social structure there. Many of the women have had to have major surgery–colostomies and urostomies. Some have committed suicide. Perhaps Secretary Clinton was moved by the plight of thousands of these women and female children. I think it is to her credit.
Defending the rights of women not to be raped doesn’t sound like such an evil thing. The same thing is going on in Dafur. Maybe we should just
close our eyes and continue to pump money into Blackwater and corrupt mercenaries like Haliburton.
That seems to be what many here are arguing.
Do you have wives? Daughters? Mothers? What would you do to defend them? Look the other way and hope the free market protects them?
Posted by: Theresa | August 24, 2009, 5:49 pm 5:49 pm
Again, I personally believe in defending the women in my life (my wife, daughter, mother, and sisters) first and only then I can worry about my neighbors. This doesn’t mean I will be turning my head the other way if I see some poor woman or child being abused in the street. Same thing applies to the way I see things in our country versus the rest of the world.
As far as Darfur, I was waiting for someone to bring it up. I don’t think we should send even one soldier into that country. I see this as another Somalia waiting to happen. I feel for those people, really, but I don’t see anything good coming out of that, especially when our soldiers would probably be sent in there with both hands tied behind their backs. Could you imagine if one of our female soldiers would fall into the hands of those men, God forbid. Don’t forget that those people HATE US no matter what. The men over there are a bunch of punk thugs that need a good “butt kicking”.
Posted by: The Independent | August 27, 2009, 11:45 pm 11:45 pm