2011.05.15: May 15, 2011: The Free Press Editorial: Peace Corps needs quick reform
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2011.05.15: May 15, 2011: The Free Press Editorial: Peace Corps needs quick reform
The Free Press Editorial: Peace Corps needs quick reform
It's difficult to believe that in this day and age, women are still being blamed when they are victims of sexual assault. The Peace Corps needs to step up and make sure their volunteers get the support they need when things go wrong during their service. Volunteers know they will face obstacles, and even danger, when they sign up for service, but no one should expect to be abandoned by their own agency when things get rough. In the wake of the women coming forward, the agency is making a pledge to reform. That would be great to see, but with such a long-standing culture of looking the other way, someone outside the agency needs to make sure that change actually occurs. The sexual assault survivors are seeking legislation that would require the corps to hire regional victims' advocates and take other steps to reduce the risk of sexual violence and improve care of victims. That kind of legislative action is worth consideration. But no matter what way reform is achieved - whether with Congress' help or by administrative policing - the Peace Corps needs to regain its reputation by fixing this fast.
The Free Press Editorial: Peace Corps needs quick reform
Our View: Peace Corps needs quick reform
The Free Press
Peace Corps and altruism are terms that go hand in hand. Volunteers in the U.S. government program dedicate years of their lives to help those in other countries in the name of peace and friendship.
Despite that mission of doing good work, the Peace Corps' reputation recently has been sullied amid allegations of not doing enough to help their own volunteers, especially women who become crime victims during their service.
During a hearing last week before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, former female volunteers described the agency's culture of blaming the victim when they reported being raped. One volunteer told of being raped in Nepal in 1984 by her Peace Corps program director and becoming pregnant as a result. She said the Peace Corps told her she had to choose between terminating her pregnancy or leaving the corps, The New York Times reported. Another volunteer, raped in Bangladesh in 2004, said she was instructed to tell fellow volunteers "that I was going to Washington to have my wisdom teeth taken out."
The women's experience spanned decades, making clear that the agency's lack of action in the area of victim advocacy has been a longtime problem. The volunteer force is made up of 60 percent women.
From 2000 to 2009, on average, 22 Peace Corps women each year reported being the victims of rape or attempted rape, the agency says. During that time, more than 1,000 volunteers reported sexual assaults, including 221 rapes or attempted rapes. Because sexual crimes often go unreported, experts say the incidence is likely to be higher.
It's difficult to believe that in this day and age, women are still being blamed when they are victims of sexual assault. The Peace Corps needs to step up and make sure their volunteers get the support they need when things go wrong during their service. Volunteers know they will face obstacles, and even danger, when they sign up for service, but no one should expect to be abandoned by their own agency when things get rough.
In the wake of the women coming forward, the agency is making a pledge to reform. That would be great to see, but with such a long-standing culture of looking the other way, someone outside the agency needs to make sure that change actually occurs.
The sexual assault survivors are seeking legislation that would require the corps to hire regional victims' advocates and take other steps to reduce the risk of sexual violence and improve care of victims. That kind of legislative action is worth consideration. But no matter what way reform is achieved - whether with Congress' help or by administrative policing - the Peace Corps needs to regain its reputation by fixing this fast.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: May, 2011; Speaking Out; Sexual Assault and Harassment
When this story was posted in June 2011, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Peace Corps: The Next Fifty Years As we move into the Peace Corps' second fifty years, what single improvement would most benefit the mission of the Peace Corps? Read our op-ed about the creation of a private charitable non-profit corporation, independent of the US government, whose focus would be to provide support and funding for third goal activities. Returned Volunteers need President Obama to support the enabling legislation, already written and vetted, to create the Peace Corps Foundation. RPCVs will do the rest. |
| How Volunteers Remember Sarge As the Peace Corps' Founding Director Sargent Shriver laid the foundations for the most lasting accomplishment of the Kennedy presidency. Shriver spoke to returned volunteers at the Peace Vigil at Lincoln Memorial in September, 2001 for the Peace Corps 40th. "The challenge I believe is simple - simple to express but difficult to fulfill. That challenge is expressed in these words: PCV's - stay as you are. Be servants of peace. Work at home as you have worked abroad. Humbly, persistently, intelligently. Weep with those who are sorrowful, Care for those who are sick. Serve your wives, serve your husbands, serve your families, serve your neighbors, serve your cities, serve the poor, join others who also serve," said Shriver. "Serve, Serve, Serve. That's the answer, that's the objective, that's the challenge." |
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Story Source: Mankato Free Press
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Speaking Out; SA
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