The publication is reproduced in full below:
RECOGNIZING JESSICA NEUWIRTH
______
HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY
of new york
in the house of representatives
Friday, October 8, 2021
Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize my friend, Jessica Neuwirth, for her longstanding commitment to women's rights and her work against human trafficking around the world.
As one of America's preeminent lawyers and activists on women's rights and a graduate of Harvard Law School, Jessica has worked extensively in the international women's rights movement with the United Nations, in international criminal courts, and within the larger global women's movement. She served as Special Advisor on Sexual Violence to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, drafting the sections on sexual violence of the historic Akayesu judgement in 1998, which defined rape for the first time in international law and found sexual violence to constitute a form of genocide.
Jessica continued her important work in the international sphere, helping to organize a global Afghan Women's Summit just three months after 9/11 in December 2001, and a Beijing +10 campaign on laws which discriminate against women, resulting in the creation by the Human Rights Council of a UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women in Law and Practice. She played a key role in the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000, as well as the international Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, adopted by the United Nations in 2000. Jessica has also served as Special Advisor on Sexual Violence to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, where she continued to highlight the gruesome use of rape as a weapon in armed conflicts around the world. Today, as the Rita E. Hauser Director of the Human Rights Program at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, Jessica serves as an incubator for the Global Reparations Fund for Victims of Sexual Violence launched last year at the United Nations.
It is therefore no surprise that Jessica was honored this past week with the insignia of Knight of the French Legion of Honour. This is the highest award that a citizen or noncitizen of France can receive, and speaks volumes about the strong devotion, and enduring drive for justice that has characterized Jessica for her entire life.
She can now add the Legion of Honour to the host of other accolades bestowed upon her over the years, including the National Organization for Women's Susan B. Anthony Award (1997), the Visionary Ending Violence Award from the Harvard Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (2005), the New York County Lawyer's Association Edith I. Spivack Award (2009), and the Civic Spirit Award from the Women's City Club (2016), among a plethora of others throughout her storied career.
I am so pleased that our long-time ally has recognized Jessica for her critical contributions to anti-trafficking and women's rights around the world, and I am proud to be able to do the same today.
____________________
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 178
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