Chairman Menendez Remarks at Hearing: “Women Leaders Countering Authoritarianism”

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered the following opening remarks at today's full Committee hearing: "Women Leaders Countering Authoritarianism." Testifying before the Committee were Ms. Rosa María Payá Acevedo, Founder of Cuba Decide; Ms. Jewher Ilham; Worker Rights Consortium Uyghur Rights Advocate and Forced Labor Project Coordinator; and writer and journalist Ms. Roya Hakakian.

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"Many commentators like to say that globally, democracy is backsliding - that autocrats have the upper hand and that champions of democracy are on their back foot. I believe they are wrong. Wrong because you-and women like you around the globe-are prepared to defend the universal values of liberty and human dignity," Chairman Menendez said. "It is the duty of those of us fighting for democracy to support and defend the women who are on the front lines of this struggle."

Find a copy of Chairman Menendez's remarks as delivered below.

"This hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will come to order. Over the last several days, we have seen the women of Iran take to the streets. They have burned their hijabs and cut off their hair in public. They have gathered in squares all over the country, joined by men and women from across Iranian society.

They are protesting because last week, Iranian thugs who call themselves the 'morality police' beat a 22-year-old woman to death for not properly wearing her hijab, another tragic incident in a long record of repression.

According to news reports, the government has responded with violence, tear gas, mass arrests and live gunfire, injuring and killing protestors. A brutal response from a brutal autocratic regime that enforces structural misogyny and fears the power of these brave women's voices. This Committee stands in solidarity with them in their struggle for freedom and liberty.

Ms. Hakakian, Ms. Ilham, and Ms. Payá - thank you for coming before our Committee today to tell us your stories and talk about the incredible efforts that women are leading around the world against authoritarian regimes.

Every year for the last sixteen years, more countries have moved away from democracy than toward it, according to the Freedom House Index.

Many commentators like to say that globally, democracy is backsliding - that autocrats have the upper hand and that champions of democracy are on their back foot.

I believe they are wrong.

Wrong because you-and women like you around the globe-are prepared to defend the universal values of liberty and human dignity.

Now, as you know too well, the threat from rulers like those in Tehran, like Vladimir Putin, like Xi Jinping, and other autocrats is not only dangerous. It can be deadly.

These men repress their citizens with brute force, imprisoning activists and average citizens alike.

But women human rights defenders face particular risks because their advocacy is seen as a threat to the status quo.

That's why the Supreme Leader and President of Iran's security forces are killing protestors in the street.

It's why in Saudi Arabia, women still need a man's approval to marry.

In Latin America, a wave of femicides has gone unanswered.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban are quickly erasing women from the public sphere.

And in China, the government has sent ethnic-minority Uyghurs into concentration camps, forcing Uyghur women onto birth control, forcing them to have abortions, even forcing them to be sterilized.

Killings and attacks against women human rights defenders are on the rise all over.

More than forty women human rights defenders were murdered in 2019 alone. And the United Nations has received more than one hundred and eighty reports of abuse against women human rights defenders across sixty countries.

It is no coincidence that the global attack on democracy has occurred in lockstep with this assault on women's rights.

Autocrats fear the fight for women's political and economic inclusion because it has mobilized democratic transitions away from authoritarianism.

And these regimes will do whatever it takes to keep their hold on power.

Their security services certainly don't confine their repression within international borders. They harass, surveil, kidnap, and even kill women who live in diaspora communities abroad.

Sometimes even here in the United States as some of our witnesses know first-hand.

It is the duty of those of us fighting for democracy to support and defend the women who are on the front lines of this struggle.

That's why I've authored bipartisan legislation like the Sanctioning Supporters of Slave Labor Act, which would expand sanctions on those committing human rights abuses against the Uyghur population because too often, attacks against women are attacks against democracy. And we must hold the perpetrators accountable.

But we all have to do more.

International institutions need to do more.

The United States needs to do more.

Congress needs to do more.

And I hope our witnesses today can tell us where the U.S. and the Biden administration could be doing more.

What are we missing when we try to address this critical challenge?

How can we best support women who are taking the lead in countering authoritarian regimes?

Finally, I want to express my deep respect for our witnesses here today.

Miss Payá, I was a great admirer of your father's courage in the face of a brutal Cuban regime. And while it has been ten years since his murder, know that we stand with you, fighting for transparency and accountability for those who killed him and tried to cover it up.

Just as we stand with Ms. Ilham and Ms. Hakakian in your fight for freedom and justice.

With that let me turn to the Ranking Member for his opening remarks."

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Juan Pachon

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