I apologize for the delay in posting; blogger has been having massive issues and I haven't been able to get these up because of bad internet, but here are the links following the hearings finally, albeit a bit late.
Here is the news release from the Peace Corps, reprinted below for your convenience followed by many different links about the testimonies yesterday and results coming from them*:
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 11, 2011 – Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Peace Corps’ enhanced safety, health and support measures for volunteers serving around the world. The hearing, entitled “Peace Corps at 50”, also included testimony from returned Peace Corps volunteers (RPCVs), Peace Corps’ Inspector General and members of the Peace Corps community.
In prepared testimony, Director Williams outlined ways the Peace Corps has increased its support to volunteers who have been the victim of a sexual assault or other crime. Since Director Williams took office in August 2009, the Peace Corps has instituted several new measures to improve the agency’s sexual assault risk reduction and response program. Director Williams’ testimony can be found in its entirety here.
“The health, safety, and support of every member of our Peace Corps family is my number one priority,” said Peace Corps Director Williams in a prepared statement. “The Peace Corps of today takes the issue of sexual assault prevention and response seriously and we are dedicated to providing compassionate victim-centered care. Since I became Director, the Peace Corps has put in place new policies to reduce the risks faced by volunteers and to ensure they receive our full support when a tragedy occurs.”
The Director continued his statement by detailing the measures the Peace Corps has taken to strengthen global operations and improve the quality of care provided to volunteers. He concluded his statement by offering sincere thanks to the Peace Corps volunteers of yesterday, today and tomorrow for their commitment to public service.
The Peace Corps will continue to make additional changes as the agency works with returned volunteers, other government agencies and leaders in the field of sexual assault risk reduction and response. The Peace Corps has instituted the following reforms to strengthen safety and security procedures and ensure compassionate care for victims of crime.
For more detailed information on Peace Corps’ safety and security practices, including the agency’s commitment to volunteers, please visit the Safety Section on the Peace Corps website.
***
I was also given a couple different links to videos that show some of the testimonies of RPCV sexual assault survivors as well as Lois Puzey, Kate's mom. Please be warned that these videos could very likely be triggering:
AP video of the hearing: here
CSPAN video of the hearing: here
In response to these hearings it looks like Congress is in the process of actually working on legislation to protect whisleblowers and to protect the rights of sexual assault survivors. They're also looking to better support the Puzeys in their fight for justice for their daughter's death. Here is the follow up response from the NYT to the hearings yesterday and you can get a good summary of the proceedings from the San Francisco Times here.
One amazing result of all of this seems to be that the Peace Corps is scraping the shitty sexual assault training video that was such a hell for me. Read about it here. This is one amazing thing to come out of this thing. If you're curious about really shitty sexual assault awareness training, you can actually watch the original training video. I don't know why you'd want to, though. It's really pretty awful.
I don't have much else to report except that many of us have been discussing these events the last few days. I'm actually in the south of the country right now for our semi-annual inter-service training and all the health sector volunteers are together for the first time since our last one in December. It's crazy how quickly time has flied on by. It seems like we just had our last one and yet it's been almost half a year since then. It'll be June in a couple weeks and just a month after that the new stage will be here and we won't be the babies anymore. Crazy.
*I would like to immensely thank Jessica, from Jess Under African Skies and one of the first volunteers I befriended in Benin, for these links that I shamelessly bouffed. You rock, girl.
Here is the news release from the Peace Corps, reprinted below for your convenience followed by many different links about the testimonies yesterday and results coming from them*:
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 11, 2011 – Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Peace Corps’ enhanced safety, health and support measures for volunteers serving around the world. The hearing, entitled “Peace Corps at 50”, also included testimony from returned Peace Corps volunteers (RPCVs), Peace Corps’ Inspector General and members of the Peace Corps community.
In prepared testimony, Director Williams outlined ways the Peace Corps has increased its support to volunteers who have been the victim of a sexual assault or other crime. Since Director Williams took office in August 2009, the Peace Corps has instituted several new measures to improve the agency’s sexual assault risk reduction and response program. Director Williams’ testimony can be found in its entirety here.
“The health, safety, and support of every member of our Peace Corps family is my number one priority,” said Peace Corps Director Williams in a prepared statement. “The Peace Corps of today takes the issue of sexual assault prevention and response seriously and we are dedicated to providing compassionate victim-centered care. Since I became Director, the Peace Corps has put in place new policies to reduce the risks faced by volunteers and to ensure they receive our full support when a tragedy occurs.”
The Director continued his statement by detailing the measures the Peace Corps has taken to strengthen global operations and improve the quality of care provided to volunteers. He concluded his statement by offering sincere thanks to the Peace Corps volunteers of yesterday, today and tomorrow for their commitment to public service.
The Peace Corps will continue to make additional changes as the agency works with returned volunteers, other government agencies and leaders in the field of sexual assault risk reduction and response. The Peace Corps has instituted the following reforms to strengthen safety and security procedures and ensure compassionate care for victims of crime.
- Issued Peace Corps’ Commitment to Sexual Assault Victims, a set of core principles to ensure we provide timely, effective, and compassionate support to victims of sexual assault.
- Implemented and trained staff on our new Guidelines for Responding to Rape and Sexual Assault. The guidelines emphasize a victim-centered approach with specific procedures posts must follow to respond promptly to an incident and provide the best possible support to a victim.
- The agency’s Sexual Assault Working Group is developing a comprehensive sexual assault prevention and response program. The working group includes returned volunteers and survivors of rape and sexual assault, as well as staff with expertise in trauma response.
- At the suggestion of returned Peace Corps volunteers with First Response Action, Peace Corps hired a nationally recognized leader in victims’ rights to be the agency’s first victim’s advocate. The victim’s advocate will make sure victims of crime get the emotional, medical, legal, and other support they need.
- Created the Peace Corps Volunteer Sexual Assault Panel, made up of outside experts and returned volunteers who were victims of sexual assault, to help Peace Corps design and implement sexual assault risk reduction and response strategies.
For more detailed information on Peace Corps’ safety and security practices, including the agency’s commitment to volunteers, please visit the Safety Section on the Peace Corps website.
***
I was also given a couple different links to videos that show some of the testimonies of RPCV sexual assault survivors as well as Lois Puzey, Kate's mom. Please be warned that these videos could very likely be triggering:
AP video of the hearing: here
CSPAN video of the hearing: here
In response to these hearings it looks like Congress is in the process of actually working on legislation to protect whisleblowers and to protect the rights of sexual assault survivors. They're also looking to better support the Puzeys in their fight for justice for their daughter's death. Here is the follow up response from the NYT to the hearings yesterday and you can get a good summary of the proceedings from the San Francisco Times here.
One amazing result of all of this seems to be that the Peace Corps is scraping the shitty sexual assault training video that was such a hell for me. Read about it here. This is one amazing thing to come out of this thing. If you're curious about really shitty sexual assault awareness training, you can actually watch the original training video. I don't know why you'd want to, though. It's really pretty awful.
I don't have much else to report except that many of us have been discussing these events the last few days. I'm actually in the south of the country right now for our semi-annual inter-service training and all the health sector volunteers are together for the first time since our last one in December. It's crazy how quickly time has flied on by. It seems like we just had our last one and yet it's been almost half a year since then. It'll be June in a couple weeks and just a month after that the new stage will be here and we won't be the babies anymore. Crazy.
*I would like to immensely thank Jessica, from Jess Under African Skies and one of the first volunteers I befriended in Benin, for these links that I shamelessly bouffed. You rock, girl.
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