National NOW Times >> Fall 2011  >> Article

NOW Urges More Funding for Anti-Violence Programs; U.N. Report Finds U.S. Programs Lacking

NOW President Terry O'Neill submitted written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in July, calling for greatly increased funding for Violence Against Women Act programs. The appeal was backed up by data from an annual census, which documented that a significant number of requests for service in 2010 were unmet due to critical staff and funding shortages. In fact, in a one-day snapshot taken by the National Network to End Domestic Violence, 1,746 responding programs reported 9,541 requests for help went unmet. This translates to a yearly estimate of up to 3.5 million survivors of violence being turned away for lack of resources.

O'Neill credited the groundbreaking 1994 act with having "saved thousands of lives, prevented untold injury and anguish and served to educate a generation about the tragic consequences of family violence," but said that "our work to effectively prevent violence and assist survivors must be taken to a higher level."

NOW went on to call to the committee's attention a set of recommendations developed by Hon. Rashida Manjoo, the United Nations special rapporteur on Violence Against Women, following a two-week fact finding mission to the U.S. These recommendations include specific research, legislative, policy and programmatic improvements that would positively impact survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, as well as measures addressing military violence, women in detention and violence against Native American women.

Manjoo's report, previewed at an early June meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, found that "the lack of substantive protective legislation at federal and state levels, and the inadequate implementation of current laws, policies and programs, has resulted in the continued prevalence of violence against women and the discriminatory treatment of victims, with particularly detrimental effects on poor, minority and immigrant women."

NOW Foundation assisted in preparations for the special rapporteur's mission to the U.S., submitting a discussion paper at a forum hosted by the University of Virginia School of Law's International Human Rights Clinic in early 2010. The document highlighted various types of violence against women, including gun violence, familicide, gang rape, acquaintance rape on campus, highway serial murders, sexual violence against Native American women, sexual assault in the U.S. military and violence against women in mass media.

Various reports prepared by organizations participating in the process will soon be published, including one on gun violence by West Virginia NOW leader Dr. Christina Vogt. A version of that report was submitted by NOW Foundation and WV NOW to the U.N. Human Rights Council for the Ninth Periodic Review of the U.S. in December 2010.

In January of this year, NOW Foundation hosted a formal discussion at the National Action Center with allied organizations and Manjoo to further prepare her for the fact-finding mission.

Currently, we are awaiting response from the State Department to a letter NOW co-signed asking how the U.S. plans to implement Special Rapporteur Manjoo's recommendations.

Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against Women

Report on Gun Violence