PLEASE VIEW THIS IMPORTANT VIDEO REGARDING THE CURRENT VERSION OF VAWA REAUTHORIZATION…

http://www.youtube.com/embed/PNM-uKMcxqk

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From: White House Office of Communications http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/05/11/rolling-back-protections-domestic-violence-victims

Rolling Back Protections for Domestic Violence Victims Lynn Rosenthal and Felicia Escobar

Ed. Note: This is the first in a series of posts on the importance of strengthening the Violence Against Women Act. Additional posts will follow on addressing violence against Native women and LGBT victims.

Since 1994, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has been an essential tool in helping to protect victims of domestic and sexual violence. While seeking to improve criminal justice and community-based responses to victims of abuse, VAWA ultimately changed the landscape for those previously left to suffer in silence. Since then, Congress – on a bipartisan basis — has repeatedly shown its commitment to preserving and enhancing the core goals of VAWA by increasing protections in all subsequent VAWA reauthorizations. This was recently demonstrated by the Senate’s VAWA reauthorization bill (S. 1925) introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) that passed last month on a vote of 68 to 31, with strong bipartisan support. S. 1925 was introduced after months of input from a wide range of stakeholders. Unfortunately, Republican leaders in the House have taken a different approach, with the introduction of H.R. 4970, a bill authored by Rep. Sandy Adams (FL-24), that actually rolls back protections for victims of domestic violence. On Tuesday, on a vote of 17-15, House Republicans passed this measure out of the House Judiciary Committee, without properly considering the cross-jurisdictional sections that provide for protections on tribal lands, in federal housing programs, and on college campuses around the country. The Adams bill adds burdensome, counter-productive requirements that compromise the ability of service providers to reach victims, fails to adequately protect Tribal victims, lacks important protection and services for LGBT victims, weakens resources for victims living in subsidized housing, and eliminates important improvements to address dating violence and sexual assault on college campuses. Among the most troubling components of this bill are those that jettison and drastically undercut existing and important, long-standing protections that remain vital to the safety and protection of battered immigrant victims. Since its inception, VAWA has reflected the unique circumstances that immigrant victims face, and as such, has demonstrated a commitment to offering them protection and addressing the specific issues that endanger the lives of these particularly vulnerable victims. This commitment includes addressing the problems faced by immigrants married to or in relationships with abusive citizens or legal residents. In many of these relationships, abusive partners use immigration status as a tool to control and further abuse immigrant victims. Currently, VAWA addresses this by allowing battered immigrants to petition for their own immigration status—independent of their abusive spouses – freeing them from their spouse’s abuse and control. The Adams bill takes a significant step backwards from the existing law by allowing immigration officials to interview an alleged offender and consider the information obtained in making a determination about the adjudication of a battered immigrant’s petition for status. This not only undermines the critical protection of confidentiality relied on by victims to find safety for themselves and their children, it also allows abusers to manipulate the immigration process to cause further harm. Because the risks of serious injury and homicide increase when a victim is taking steps to leave an abusive relationship, this provision puts victims directly in harm’s way. This proposal guts nearly 18 years of established law and undermines the very foundation of VAWA. Never before have policy makers retreated on the core VAWA principle of victim safety. The bill also discourages immigrants from reporting sexual assault and other crimes by placing other unnecessary restrictions on the U visa program and fails to provide an increase in the number of available visas. The U visa is a tool widely used and supported by law enforcement officials in order to help keep our communities safe by prosecuting criminals. Many law enforcement agencies have called upon Congress to increase the number of available U visas so that they can encourage victims to come forward, report crimes, and receive the help they need to be safe. Finally, the Adams bill will decentralize the VAWA immigration adjudications process – bypassing examiners who are specifically trained in domestic violence and sexual assault – and mandates additional interviews for battered immigrants, causing unnecessary burdens on victims. Immigrant victims often have limited options to escape abusive relationships and the provisions in the Adams bill contradict the very purpose of VAWA by putting victims’ lives, health, and safety at risk. Our nation’s laws should continue to strengthen protections for our most vulnerable populations – not roll back those safeguards. The long standing bipartisan commitment to ending domestic violence must continue to be supported and strengthened to better protect all victims from violence, abuse, and exploitation. We urge the House of Representatives to join with the Senate in passing a bipartisan VAWA reauthorization bill that protects all victims. Lynn Rosenthal is the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women. Felicia Escobar is the Senior Policy Director for Immigration.

En Espanol

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/05/11/la-reducci-n-de-protecciones-para-las-v-ctimas-de-violencia-dom-stica La reducción de protecciones para las víctimas de violencia doméstica Posted by Lynn Rosenthal y Felicia Escobar on May 11, 2012 at 05:17 PM EDT Nota editorial: Esta publicación es la primera de una serie sobre la importancia de reforzar la Ley contra la violencia hacia las mujeres. Se harán otras publicaciones sobre la violencia hacia las mujeres indígenas norteamericanas y las víctimas dentro de la comunidad LGBT. Desde 1994, la Ley contra la violencia hacia las mujeres (VAWA, por sus siglas en inglés) ha sido una herramienta esencial para ayudar a proteger a las víctimas de la violencia doméstica y sexual. Al tiempo que VAWA ha intentado mejorar las respuestas de la justicia penal y de las comunidades a las víctimas del abuso, la ley eventualmente modificó el ambiente para aquellas víctimas que anteriormente no tenían otra alternativa que sufrir en silencio. Desde entonces, el Congreso, de manera bipartidista, ha demostrado repetidamente su compromiso a preservar y mejorar las metas básicas de VAWA aumentando las protecciones en todas las reautorizaciones subsiguientes de VAWA. Esto se demostró recientemente con el proyecto de ley del Senado para la reautorización de VAWA (S. 1925) presentado por los Senadores Patrick Leahy (D-VT) y Mike Crapo (R-ID) que fue aprobado el mes pasado con una votación de 68 a 31, con un fuerte apoyo bipartidista. El S. 1925 fue presentado después de meses de contribución de ideas de un amplio rango de grupos de interés. Desafortunadamente, los líderes Republicanos en la Cámara de Representantes han adoptado un enfoque diferente, con la presentación del H.R. 4970, que es un proyecto de ley presentado por el Representante Sandy Adams (FL-24), que realmente reduce las protecciones para las víctimas de la violencia doméstica. El martes, con una votación de 17-15, los Republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes aprobaron esta medida en el Comité Judicial de la Cámara, sin considerar debidamente las secciones inter-jurisdiccionales que estipulan protecciones en los terrenos de las tribus, en los programas federales de vivienda y en los recintos universitarios en todo el país. El proyecto de ley de Adams agrega requisitos onerosos y contraproducentes que comprometen la capacidad de los proveedores de servicios para llegar a las víctimas, no protege adecuadamente las víctimas en las tribus, carece de protección y servicios importantes para las víctimas dentro de la comunidad LGBT, debilita los recursos para las víctimas que viven en viviendas con subsidios del gobierno, y elimina mejoras importantes para cubrir la violencia en las relaciones de parejas y el acoso sexual en los recintos universitarios. Entre los componentes más preocupantes de este proyecto de ley se encuentran aquellos que eliminan y perjudican drásticamente las protecciones importantes y establecidas durante tiempo que siguen siendo vitales para la seguridad y las protecciones de las víctimas inmigrantes sujetas a abuso. Desde su comienzo, VAWA ha reflejado las circunstancias particulares que encaran las víctimas inmigrantes y, por lo tanto, ha demostrado un compromiso a ofrecerles protección y cubrir los asuntos específicos que ponen en peligro las vidas de estas víctimas especialmente vulnerables. Este compromiso incluye cubrir los problemas que encaran las inmigrantes que contraen matrimonio o se encuentran en relaciones con ciudadanos o residentes legales abusivos. En muchas de esas relaciones, las parejas abusivas usan la situación migratoria como herramienta para controlar y abusar más de las víctimas inmigrantes. Actualmente, VAWA cubre esta situación permitiéndoles a las inmigrantes sujetas a abuso que sometan una petición en relación con su situación migratoria, de manera independiente de sus cónyuges abusivos, lo que las libera del abuso y el control del cónyuge. El proyecto de ley de Adams toma un paso significativo hacia atrás de la ley existente permitiéndoles a los funcionarios de inmigración que entrevisten al presunto ofensor y consideren la información obtenida para tomar una determinación sobre la adjudicación de la petición hecha por la inmigrante sujeta a abuso para cambiar su situación migratoria. Esto no solo perjudica la protección crítica de la confidencialidad de que dependen las víctimas para buscar seguridad para ellas y sus hijos, sino que permite que los abusadores manipulen el proceso de inmigración para ocasionarles aún más daño. Debido a que los riesgos de daños graves y de homicidio aumentan cuando una víctima toma pasos para abandonar una relación abusiva, esta disposición pone a las víctimas justamente frente al peligro. Esta propuesta destruye casi 18 años de una ley establecida y socava la propia base de VAWA. Jamás hasta ahora se habían retractado los legisladores del principio básico de VAWA de la seguridad de las víctimas. El proyecto de ley también desanima a las inmigrantes de reportar el acoso sexual y otros delitos pues establece restricciones innecesarias en el programa de visas U y no provee un aumento del número de visas disponible. La visa U es una herramienta que usan y apoyan generalmente los funcionarios del cumplimiento del orden para ayudar a mantener seguras nuestras comunidades mediante el enjuiciamiento de los delincuentes. Muchas agencias del cumplimiento del orden han exhortado al Congreso a que aumente el número de visas U disponible de manera que se pueda exhortar a las víctimas a que se identifiquen, reporten los delitos y reciban la ayuda que necesitan para estar seguras. Por último, el proyecto de ley de Adams descentralizará el proceso de adjudicaciones de inmigración de VAWA, pasando por alto a los inspectores que han recibido capacitación específica sobre la violencia doméstica y el acoso sexual, y requiere entrevistas adicionales para las inmigrantes sujetas a abuso, lo que les impone cargas innecesarias a las víctimas. Normalmente, las víctimas inmigrantes tienen opciones limitadas para escapar de las relaciones abusivas y las disposiciones del proyecto de ley de Adams contradicen el propio propósito de VAWA al poner en riesgo las vidas, la salud y la seguridad de las víctimas. Las leyes de nuestra nación deben continuar fortaleciendo las protecciones para nuestras poblaciones más vulnerables, y no reducir esas salvaguardas. El compromiso bipartidista establecido durante largo tiempo de ponerle fin a la violencia doméstica tiene que continuar recibiendo apoyo y siendo reforzado para proteger mejor a todas las víctimas de la violencia, el abuso y la explotación. Exhortamos a la Cámara de Representantes a que se una al Senado para aprobar un proyecto de ley bipartidista de reautorización de VAWA que proteja a todas las víctimas. Lynn Rosenthal es la Asesora de la Casa Blanca sobre la Violencia Hacia las Mujeres. Felicia Escobar es la Directora Principal de Política sobre Inmigración. La versión original en inglés se puede encontrar en el siguiente enlace: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/05/11/rolling-back-protections-domestic-violence-victims

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BEIJING — Her head was ringing from the blows. Once, twice, three times, her husband slammed her face into the living room floor.

Kim Lee tried to twist her tall but skinny frame out from under his 91-kilogram (200-pound) body, scraping her elbows and knees on the carpet. He kept on pounding. Eight, nine, 10 times – she thought she might black out.

Then, close to the floor, she glimpsed the neon pink-painted toenails of her 3-year-old daughter, Lydia. “Stop!” the child cried. “What are you doing? Stop, Daddy, stop!” She jumped on her father and scratched his arm.

“Damn it!” he yelled. He loosened his grip on his wife, and she crawled away.

It wasn’t the first time in their relationship that Li Yang, a Chinese celebrity entrepreneur, had struck her – but for his American wife, it was going to be the last.

She scooped up her wailing child, grabbed their passports and a wad of cash, and walked out of their Beijing apartment. And in doing so, she opened the door to a torrent of anguish about domestic violence in her adopted country, inadvertently becoming a folk hero for Chinese battered women.

Domestic violence everywhere lives in the shadows, and in China it thrives in a secrecy instilled by tradition that holds family conflicts to be private. It is also hard to go public in a country where many still consider women subservient to their husbands, and there is no specific national law against domestic violence.

At least one in four women in China is estimated to have been a victim of domestic violence at some point in her life, surveys show, with the rate in rural areas as high as two out of every three women. The violence takes many forms, from physical and sexual assault to emotional abuse or economic deprivation.

Lee’s case has spawned tens of thousands of postings on Chinese Twitter-like sites, along with protests and talk show debates. It is especially explosive because she is a foreigner, at a time when China is particularly sensitive about how it is understood and treated by the world.

“A lot of people said, ‘Oh, is it because Kim is an American and so she’s too strong-willed, or her personality is too strong?’… Some others have asked whether she is making a big fuss over a small issue,” says Feng Yuan, founder and chair of the Anti-Domestic Violence Network in Beijing. “This shows that in terms of the public perception of domestic violence, we still have a long way to go.”

___

The story of Li Yang and Kim Lee is documented in photographs, letters, text messages, police documents and hospital records seen by The Associated Press, as well as extensive interviews with her in Beijing. Li refused repeated requests for interviews, but in past interviews on TV and on his microblog, he has confessed to beating his wife.

They met on the first day of her first trip to China in 1999, in what Lee has come to see as “yuanfen,” or fate.

Then a teacher in Miami, she was visiting a Chinese school to learn about bilingual education. He was there to speak about his popular program, “Crazy English,” a radical approach to learning the language that involved hand gestures and slogans such as “Conquer English to Make China Stronger!” Li sold more than English lessons – he sold a life philosophy of shedding inhibitions, with a patriotism that resonated with many in today’s China.

Li persuaded her to move to China to work for him. Inspired by a Chinese folktale called Journey to the West, he called himself the “Hopeless Master” and Kim his “Monkey Queen,” to the delight of colleagues. In private, he wrote to her that “a hopeless master can’t survive without his monkey queen.”

They married in a Las Vegas chapel in 2005, a few years after their first daughter Lily was born. But with Li away at workshops much of the time, the relationship grew strained.

One day, during an argument over money, he slapped her hard, she says. She blamed herself. “Just drop it, just don’t make him angry,” she thought. Another time, arguing about work, he pushed her in front of their colleagues.

In February 2006, while Lee was seven months’ pregnant with their second child, her husband promised to accompany her to the hospital for a test. He did not show up.

Lee went home and deleted four chapters of a textbook she had written for him. When he called, she told him, “I want you to understand what it feels like when you count on someone to do something and they don’t.”

He hung up.

The next day, while she was baking cupcakes with their daughter, he flew into the kitchen and knocked a hot pan out of her hand. He grabbed her by the hair, threw her on the floor and choked her. She reached up and pushed a clothes rack at him.

He managed to land a few kicks on her stomach, but she turned on her side to protect the unborn child. Despite bruises on her legs and body, a sonogram showed the baby was all right. Li said later he “could not tolerate” threats to his work.

Lee did not tell her family or friends about the beating. She thought it was her fault for provoking him, and he seemed sorry.

She mentioned it to her sister-in-law, who dismissed her concerns, saying: “It’s nothing. All men are like that.”

___

The expectation that all men are violent – or at least have the right to be violent – is common in parts of China.

As with many countries, men historically ruled the family, with authority over women and girls. Women were supposed to obey their fathers when young, their husbands when married and their sons when widowed, according to advice attributed to the ancient sage Confucius. Those who broke family laws could be beaten, with no questions asked.

Communism brought new laws that gave women the right to work alongside men, and decades of economic growth have created dramatic shifts in Chinese society. But inequities persist, particularly in rural areas.

There is no official data on domestic violence in China today, and underreporting is common. However, a recent nationwide survey by the All-China Women’s Federation found that 25 percent of women reported domestic violence from their spouses, almost the same as in the United States. Smaller-scale studies report a rate in Chinese rural areas of up to 65 percent.

“What it shows is the tip of the iceberg,” says Feng, the advocate against domestic violence. “How big the iceberg really is, we actually don’t know.”

Wei Tingting is one of about 10 activists who staged a protest over Lee’s plight on Valentine’s Day on a busy pedestrian shopping street in Beijing. She and two other women wore bridal gowns splashed with fake blood and makeup that looked like bruises on their faces.

Wei, who grew up in the Chinese countryside in southern Guangxi province, often saw her father beating her mother. Her grandfather hit her grandmother too.

“The neighbors around us were doing the same, everyone took it to be a very normal thing. You beat a woman because the woman is at fault,” says the 23-year-old. “Some women even think that it is their fault, that’s why they are beaten.”

Li Yang grew up in a city in the remote western Xinjiang region, where he says he was a shy child afraid to answer the phone or leave the house. In 2004, his father Li Tiande told a Beijing newspaper he raised his son with a firm hand, and recounted an incident when a colleague told him Li had been up to mischief.

“At that time, I felt like I had lost face,” the elder Li said. “So I gave Li Yang a beating when I returned home.”

After the scandal with his wife erupted last year, Li acknowledged in an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV that his relationship with his parents was bereft of emotional or physical intimacy. He said he still suffers from mild depression.

“Just holding my father’s hand or giving him a hug, I would get goose bumps,” Li said. “Something was broken in the middle. … I grew up in an environment that was lacking. You will find that my ability to love is poor. It is a problem.”

___

By 2009, Lee was plotting her escape. But how? She worked for her husband’s company, with no independent income and no bank account. She lived in an apartment under her sister-in-law’s name, and relied on cash Li brought home in envelopes every month. And she was afraid that without money, she would lose custody of their three children.

Lee started to push back. She told her husband she wanted a home under her name, a monthly deposit in her account and a life insurance policy for him.

“You control everything in my life,” she complained.

“Shut up,” he warned.

“I will not shut up,” she responded.

He stood up. “I said, ‘shut up.’”

She got to her feet also. “I will NOT shut up,” she said.

Then came the beating that finally drove her out. When he let go, she grabbed Lydia and walked to the police station. She hesitated at the door, then thought of her daughter, took a deep breath and walked in.

The police told her they could do nothing unless her husband came also. They brought her to a hospital, where male staffers examined her, placed stickers on her body and photographed the bruises on her head, knees, elbows and back. She avoided eye contact with them.

That night, Li sent her a message that he had hit her only 10 times, and that a carpet under her had softened the blows. “I was not that cruel,” he wrote.

He refused to go to the police station. So she got his attention the best way she knew how – through the Internet.

First, she posted a profile shot of the bump on her forehead on her Chinese microblog. The next night, it was a photo of the bruises on her knees. And then, a frontal shot of the forehead and another of a bleeding ear.

It worked. “Crazy English” is a household name, and Li had a lot to lose from negative publicity among the students who fork out thousands of yuan to hear him.

“Kim, could you cancel that weibo,” Li said in a text message, referring to the microblog account. “It will damage many things. I love you!”

Instead, the photos went viral. And Lee went from having about two dozen followers on her microblog to more than 20,000 in a few days, and three times as many now.

Her husband sought to portray the dispute – and the marriage – as a clash between East and West.

He said on TV that he had married Lee to research American child-raising techniques, turning the relationship into a cross-cultural experiment. He painted her as the American woman who thinks family should come before career and country, who fails to see that family business in China is private and that a Chinese man occasionally hitting his wife should be forgiven.

“I still think that things that happen at home, well, a family’s shame should not be aired publicly,” Li said on a talk show. “I thought it could cause huge damage to me and my career. So I asked her to remove these photos. She refused.”

Culture has become part of a heated dialogue about the incident. Men have said that while violence is wrong, it comes from the immense pressure Chinese husbands face to excel in their careers and provide for their families. Others have lamented that it took a foreign woman’s indignance to cast light on what is an open secret in China.

In October, she filed divorce papers. He replied with a text message: “You think you Americans are smarter??? Let’s see!!! Americans want to win a war in China???”

“No, Li Yang, this is your twisted, xenophobic mind and way of thinking,” responded Lee, who is seeking at least half his assets. “Our war is not between nations, but between character.”

Now the case is before the courts, and she can do little but wait. Li has claimed in divorce proceedings that he is not guilty of domestic violence because he did not beat her frequently over many years.

In the meantime, she has changed the locks on her apartment. Last week, her husband sent her an angry text message: “In America you should be killed by your husband with gun. This is real American way. You’re so lucky to be in China!”

Later, he wrote, more succinctly, “Kill you!”

Yet when asked if she still loves him, she says she is not sure.

“I hate what he has done to me and our family … but I cannot say that I hate him,” she says. “Maybe the better question is not do you love him, but does love mean accepting and forgiving someone’s violence?

“For me, it does not.”

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Please visit the Verizon Foundation Website at www.verizonfoundation.org for information on education videos and grant opportunities to aid victims of domestic violence and honor the survivors.  Amy’s Story is a powerful story of a woman’s death at the hands of her abuser in 2001.

http://www.verizonfoundation.org/successes/telling-amys-story-trailer/

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By educating our children about the differences between healthy and unhealthy relationships, we can make a difference.  Use the resources in the link below to promote Teen Dating Violence education & awareness through your agency, or simply to talk to the teenagers you know!

https://www.ncjrs.gov/eBlast/teen_dating_12feb09.htm

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In the coming year, the Task Force will continue to sponsor continuing education programs, however, without your support, we will not be able to offer trainings without charging registration fees.  We would like to continue bringing quality presenters to our community and offering everyone the chance to benefit from training opportunities and continuing education credit.  We are also providing comunity education and improving communication through our website.  Help support the Task Force by joining today!  Click below to print a copy of the membership form for 2012!

2012_membership_form

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January 19, 2012

1pm – 3pm

LVMPD Headquarters, Building B

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THE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT (VAWA): A TOOLKIT FOR EDUCATING POLICY MAKERS ABOUT REAUTHORIZATION 

Produced by

The National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women, Toolkit Subcommittee

  The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), first passed in 1994, provides a lifeline for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. VAWA expires in 2011 and must be swiftly reauthorized to ensure a continued federal response to these crimes. The National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women has developed this VAWA reauthorization education and awareness toolkit in order to aid you – the experts, leaders, and advocates – in educating federal policymakers about the needs of survivors of violence and why the reauthorization of VAWA is critical to meeting these needs. This toolkit focuses on the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) but many of the elements can be used for any federal, local or state policy effort.

 DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COPY OF THE TOOLKIT:

 http://www.ncadv.org/files/VAWA%20Reauth%20ToolKit%20Final%2011%2028%2011.pdf
 

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The National Center for Victims of Crime is part of the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women. We are excited to forward this action alert: VAWA is here! Please forward widely! The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is due for reauthorization.

Our wonderful champions, Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Mike Crapo (R-ID), will introduce a bipartisan bill on Wednesday (11/30) to reauthorize and improve VAWA! The National Task Force has worked closely with them on the bill to ensure that it will not only continue proven effective programs, but that it will make key changes to streamline VAWA and make sure that even more people have access to safety, stability and justice. This is an important step forward for VAWA and we hope to get even more improvements as the bill moves forward!

What’s most important now is to get the Senators on the list below excited about VAWA and to get their support for the bill. If you live in any of the states listed below, please call your Senator(s) TODAY and ask for them to be original co-sponsors of VAWA. We need to keep their phones ringing!

For NEVADA Contact…

Heller, Dean – (202) 224-6244

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