Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Bob Menendez
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ranking Member of the SFRC Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, were joined by Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) in reintroducing the Central American Women and Children Protection Act (S. 2003) to address the protection and safety of women and children in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. The bipartisan legislation seeks to decrease and deter violence against women and children in the Northern Triangle and increase safe access by female and child survivors of violence to adequate, appropriate, and coordinated support services. The bipartisan bill would also enhance the performance, will, and capacity of justice system officials in Central America, including police, prosecutors, and courtroom personnel to provide a coordinated, multi-disciplinary, victim-centric response to crimes of violence against women and children.
“As a nation committed to protecting the most vulnerable and to fostering global and regional security and stability, the United States has both a moral imperative and fundamental responsibility to provide assistance to counter the alarming levels of violence perpetrated against women and children in Central America. We cannot sit idly by as our closest neighbors suffer from some of the highest rates of homicide – and femicide – in the world, and impunity persists for horrific violence against women,” Chairman Menendez said. “By strengthening criminal justice systems and family courts’ ability to protect victims, and promoting prevention and early detection in community and school environments, the Central American Women and Children Protection Act of 2021 lays a critical foundation for the social and economic development for communities in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.”
“I am proud to reintroduce this bipartisan legislation which would provide much-needed resources, training and additional tools for the victims of violence in Central America, who are predominantly women and children,” Rubio said. “By increasing the capacity of the criminal justice systems, and family courts in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, the U.S. is supporting the strengthening of these institutions by providing assistance, protection, and empowering families with clear objectives to protect survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, abuse, and neglect.”
Find a copy of the legislation HERE.
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