About Julia Drost

Julia Drost is the Policy & Advocacy Associate for the Women’s Human Rights Program at Amnesty International USA
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International Violence Against Women Act Reintroduced and Time is Ticking!

By Julia Drost

March 9, 2015 at 12:20 PM

Violence devastates the lives of millions of women and girls worldwide every year (Photo Credit: Mahmud Khaled/AFP/Getty Images)

There’s little doubt that you’ve repeatedly heard about the incessant global epidemic of violence against women and girls; I am certain you’ve seen one too many horrific headlines highlighting unthinkable instances of gender-based violence around the world.

Like me, you’re also undoubtedly distressed by the violence and simultaneously weary of the struggle to end it. It is overwhelming and daunting to grasp how we can work to effectively end this widespread human rights abuse.

But we cannot give up on our efforts. With every day that passes, violence continues to devastate the lives of countless more women and girls in every part of the world. We must continue to push for a solution. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

Let’s put the 16 Days campaign out of business

By Julia Drost

December 1, 2014 at 5:09 PM

(FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images)

We all know how unfortunately easy it is to find innumerable instances of violence against women occurring on a daily basis in every part of the world. A three-year old rape survivor in Afghanistan, hundreds of abducted schoolgirls in Nigeria, the unsolved murder of 15 year-old María Isabel Veliz Franco in Guatemala, and astonishing rates of sexual violence in Egypt, to name a few.

Violence is horrific wherever it occurs and in whatever context. It is particularly abhorrent in the devastating impact it has on the lives of 1 in 3 women around the world. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

IVAWA Takes Center Stage in the Senate Tomorrow!

By Julia Drost

June 23, 2014 at 8:00 AM

Indian women take part in a protest demanding up to 33 percent representation for the upliftment of women’s rights (Photo Credit: Manan Vasyayana/AFP/Getty Images).

Human rights activists have long known what much of the world is starting to recognize and acknowledge: violence against women and girls is a human rights violation of epidemic proportions that touches every corner of the globe, impacting the ability of women and girls to access the full spectrum of their human rights.

Amnesty activists and our many coalition partners have worked for years to build momentum behind the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA), a critical piece of legislation aimed at ensuring the United States does its part to end gender-based violence globally through its diplomatic and foreign assistance work. And thanks to our efforts, Members of Congress are taking notice.

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Stand Up For Women’s Rights in Chicago at Amnesty’s Annual Human Rights Conference

By Julia Drost

March 7, 2014 at 10:00 AM

Violence devastates the lives of millions of women and girls worldwide every year (Photo Credit: Mahmud Khaled/AFP/Getty Images).

This article originally appeared in the Lawndale News under the title “Standing Up For Women’s Rights at Home and Abroad.”

A human rights abuse epidemic is happening right now in every corner of the globe. It has manifested in Mexico where twenty-six women were sexually assaulted by police in San Salvador, Atenco.

It has manifested in Guatemala when 15-year-old María Isabel Franco was raped and brutally killed, and in Afghanistan, where a women’s rights advocate was murdered in the street.

And it has manifested in Chicago, where nearly 1 in 5 Chicago youth experience violence in a dating relationship.

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BREAKING: President Karzai Rejects Law Rolling Back Violence Protections for Women

By Julia Drost

February 19, 2014 at 12:47 PM

Afghan university students and independent civil society activists take part in a demonstration in support of passing the Elimination of Violence against Women law in front of Parliament in Kabul (Photo Credit: Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images).

This is what protecting human rights looks like: responding to resounding national and international outcry, including the voices of Afghan women and Amnesty activists around the world, early this week Afghan President Karzai blocked a new discriminatory law that would have denied justice to women and girls subjected to domestic violence, rape, and forced or child marriage.

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On the Desk of President Karzai: A New Discriminatory Law Against Afghan Women

By Julia Drost

February 14, 2014 at 8:00 AM

The deeply flawed Article prohibits the relatives of an accused individual from acting as witnesses during a criminal prosecution, including cases of violence against women (Photo Credit: Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images).

President Karzai’s pen is poised to approve a revision to Afghanistan’s Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) passed by Parliament that will prove catastrophic for the ability to Afghan women and girls to seek justice when family members commit acts of violence against them. His signature could come within a week’s time.

The deeply flawed Article 26 (clauses 4 and 6) of the CPC prohibits the relatives of an accused individual from acting as witnesses during a criminal prosecution, including cases of violence against women. This would mean that testimonies of relatives witnessing the rape of a family member or an honor killing will not be taken into consideration – a major concern where violence, including domestic violence and forced or child marriage, is predominantly perpetrated and/or witnessed by family members.

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U.S. Congress Takes Another Critical Step to Help Afghan Women’s Rights and Security

By Julia Drost

December 20, 2013 at 12:15 PM

Lieutenant Islam Bibi Helmand’s top female police officer (R) talking to a colleague on March 8, 2013. Known as the most senior female police officer in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, Bibi was shot dead on July 4, 2013 by unknown gunmen while being driven to work. The attack is seen as part of a series violence against top women officials (Photo Credit: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images).

Elsie De Laere, our Afghanistan country specialist, co-authored this piece.

The situation is unfortunately not unfamiliar yet it deteriorates with each passing day: Afghan women working to protect and advance their rights continue to face growing threats to their lives and safety.

Well-documented threats to female Members of Parliament and government, women’s human rights defenders, and female police officers occur on a daily basis, all set against the terrifying backdrop of an uncertain future currently being shaped by attempts to revoke provisions of the country’s Elimination of Violence Against Women law and potential peace negotiations with the Taliban and other insurgent groups that threaten to rollback gains for women’s human rights.

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Congress, You’ve Been Given Homework: Pass I-VAWA!

By Julia Drost

November 21, 2013 at 5:44 PM

(Photo Credit: Futures Without Violence).

Yesterday, an overflowing Congressional hearing room sat (and stood) captivated as witnesses described the ongoing struggle to end gender-based violence (GBV) globally to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.

While it was exciting to be in a packed hearing room on Capitol Hill with many youth activists, all wearing bright Amnesty “Stop Violence Against Women” stickers, I will be the first to admit that the topic of the hearing wasn’t exactly uplifting. The global epidemic of violence against women is disturbing, astounding, and infuriating. Would there be any good news to report? Any glimmers of hope or progress that has been made?

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Pull Up a Chair! Tell Congress You Want Women at the Peacemaking Table

By Julia Drost

August 1, 2013 at 2:54 PM

An Afghan woman displays her voter registration card at a voter registration center (Photo Credit: Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images).

When did it become cliché to say that you want “world peace”? Probably for as long as anyone can remember.

But why should this be such a farfetched and unattainable objective? Perhaps we don’t believe peace will ever be sustainable because half of all peace agreements around the world fail within the first five years? Or perhaps because the way governments approach peace processes hasn’t changed despite such an abysmal record of success?

Perhaps it’s time to try something new. Something that can change this record and help build lasting and sustainable peace. Yesterday, several Members of the U.S. Congress agreed and laid down a marker for change.

Through the reintroduction of the Women, Peace and Security Act (WPS) of 2013 (H.R 2874), Members of Congress said loud and clear that the essential yet overwhelmingly absent component to both lasting peace and the prevention of recurring conflict is the inclusion of women.

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Author Archives: Julia Drost

About Julia Drost

International Violence Against Women Act Reintroduced and Time is Ticking!

Let’s put the 16 Days campaign out of business

Congress, You’ve Been Given Homework: Pass I-VAWA!