NEWS

Photo from WILPF US Domestic Prisoners of War Issue Committee 

By Jazmine Roberson
Domestic Prisoners of War Issue Committee Member. Tampa, Florida 

This piece examines the pivotal role nurses play in addressing domestic violence within the healthcare system. Drawing on insights from nursing education and clinical practice, it highlights strategies for assessing abuse, supporting patient autonomy, developing safety plans, and connecting victims to essential resources—all while upholding compassion, sensitivity, and professionalism.

Throughout my nursing school experience, I have learned about domestic violence in the healthcare system. This knowledge stems from classes, personal observations, and hospital experiences. However, this is not an exhaustive exploration of policies or programs related to domestic violence; it is simply a summary of what I’ve learned so far.

In Florida, domestic abuse involving adults, unless it pertains to a child or a vulnerable adult, is not mandatory to report. If you suspect intimate partner violence (IPV), you can assist the individual by creating a safety plan and providing resources, but there is no legal obligation to report the abuse to law enforcement or state protective agencies, such as DCF or CPS. This may surprise some people, but it underscores the importance of respecting the autonomy and wishes of the patient.

One critical responsibility when conducting assessments is to report as much objective information as possible, based on what you observe and what the patient shares, to the attending physician. It is not the nurse’s role to offer personal judgments or assumptions about the situation. Remaining unbiased allows the physician to form their conclusions, which is essential for building a case to help the victim effectively. If you suspect abuse but lack concrete evidence, it is appropriate to communicate your concerns to the physician. However, always lead with factual information, such as physical assessment findings or the patient’s statements. Avoid sharing vague suspicions or personal opinions, as this can complicate the situation or lead to misunderstandings.

One key aspect I learned is that nurses must focus on the immediate needs of the patient. If a patient discloses abuse but expresses no intention of leaving their partner, your role is to address their current needs. This could include treating their injuries, providing resources for housing or food, or offering connections to community services. Reporting abuse without the patient’s consent could escalate the situation, especially if the patient lacks a robust support system to leave their partner safely.

Creating a safe environment to talk openly with patients about abuse is essential. For example, you can ask the patient to accompany you to a treatment room or lab for privacy, away from their partner. When discussing sensitive topics, it’s important to use open-ended questions rather than ones that can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." Open-ended questions encourage the patient to share more details, which helps in understanding their situation better. For instance, instead of asking, “Are you safe at home?” you could ask, “Can you tell me about your living situation?” These approaches can reveal much more about their circumstances.

If children are involved, you need to tailor your questions to suit the child’s developmental level. When speaking with parents, a nonjudgmental tone is crucial. For example, rather than saying, “It seems like your discipline is harming your child,” you could ask, “How do you usually discipline your child when they misbehave?” This phrasing encourages openness and reduces defensiveness, which is key to gathering accurate information.

Substance abuse is often correlated with domestic violence, so demographic questions should include inquiries about alcohol or drug use. If the patient says they don’t drink but mentions their partner does, you can ask follow-up questions to assess the situation further. However, it’s vital to remain sensitive to the presence of the partner during these discussions, as raising suspicions could increase the patient’s risk.

Safety planning is another critical topic we covered. Hospitals often have rubrics or step-by-step guidelines to help nurses create safety plans with the patients. These plans may include questions like:

• Do you feel safe at home?
• Do you have a support system?
• What strategies have you used to cope in the past?

If your facility lacks resources for safety planning, online resources can be invaluable. Nurses should also familiarize themselves with local crisis services and hotlines to provide timely assistance.

Hospitals typically have care coordinators or social workers available to help patients access services related to domestic violence. While these professionals are excellent resources, it’s beneficial for nurses to be proactive by researching local services and crisis programs. In many cases, nurses may be the first—or only—people a victim has seen in months due to the isolation often imposed by abusers. Recognizing both physical and nonverbal signs of abuse is crucial in these situations. Asking thoughtful follow-up questions can provide opportunities for intervention.

Continued education is a requirement for nurses, including certifications and courses on topics like domestic violence, human trafficking, and substance abuse. These ongoing training programs, often mandated by the state, ensure that healthcare providers remain updated and capable of offering informed, compassionate care. While incidents can still slip through the cracks, advocacy for patients—whether it involves IPV, substance abuse resources, or faith-based support—is integral to holistic nursing care.

I am grateful for the knowledge I’ve gained in nursing school and through clinical experiences. These lessons have helped me understand how to better serve patients facing domestic violence. As I grow in my career, I hope to deepen my expertise and continue advocating for patients in vulnerable situations.

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand

by David Rothauser and Eileen Kurkoski

There is nothing unique about children being killed in war. In fact, children, their mothers, and other members of the civilian family invariably account for higher casualty numbers than combatants themselves. "The murder of children is non-debatable and non-negotiable."

Yet there is something far more tragic about childhood casualties in the current war in Gaza than in all the wars of the past strung together. The difference is that the war in Gaza is today’s war. It is not historical. It is not something we read about in history books. It is happening now – it is Peter Rubens’ The Massacre of the Innocents come to life before our very eyes. Children ripped from their mothers’ breasts, children chased down nameless streets, targeted by sniper’s bullets to every part of their young bodies. Hospitals demolished before desperately needed medication can be applied to a child gasping for life. Food and water withheld as a weapon of war.

One can argue that it is, or is not, a genocide, an ethnic cleansing, but take away the labels and it is still the mass murder of children committed by adults who know what they are doing.

The war in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Iran, including the starvation and mutilation of children as conducted by the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces), is funded by the US to the tune of $17.9 billion dollars from October 7, 2023, through 2024. Why does America fund this grotesque annihilation of Palestinian children on a daily basis?

The way we deal with domestic school shootings since 1998 to the present gives us a window into our American psychic justification for the murder of children during war. Mass shootings in American schools since the late 19th century were infrequent and seldom resulted in more than one or two shot dead. Then, in 1999, there was the Columbine High School massacre.

18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold, students at Columbine High School, killed 12 students and one teacher. It was the deadliest mass shooting at a high school in U.S. history until it was surpassed by the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in February 2018.

What was remarkable about Columbine and the myriad of school shootings that followed was that our government and media paid little attention to the shootings. It wasn’t until the numbers reached epidemic proportions that the government began to pass background laws and give a lot of lip service. The shootings continued, children continued to die, and nothing was done to prevent more shootings. In fact, as the shootings went up, the sale of firearms in the US skyrocketed. Childhood death by firearms is the single highest cause of death to children in America.

How does this relate to the war on children in Palestine? The US government supports domestic weapons manufacturers, even passes laws to protect them against liabilities when their weapons are used for crimes against humanity. The same US government supports the same weapons manufacturers to supply Israel with weapons used to massacre children in Gaza. The current administration pays lip service to Israel to create a ceasefire, while doing nothing to prevent the mass killings.

The IDF practice of targeting Palestinian children is in violation of international law, which is unambiguous when it comes to the protection of children affected by conflict. Palestinian children have been found with bullet holes to the head and chest, signifying they are precise targets of Israeli sniper and drone fire. Schools, libraries, universities, hospitals, refugee centers, private apartment buildings, bakeries, markets, and mosques all fall under the heading “Hamas Command and Control Centers.” Israel claims that children are being used as human shields by Hamas, hence are not protected by the rules of war.

Why do adults need to rationalize the murder of children, the most vulnerable of the human species? Why does the international human body stand with mouths agape, knowingly witness to the mass slaughter, waiting for the US to take action to stop Israel from committing this horror?

Dr. Helen Caldicott, founder and former Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility, calls it Psychic Numbing. The adult perpetrators know it is morally wrong, yet they psychologically deny the reality of what they are doing.

What is lost to the children when we ignore their tragedy and run from any responsibility to nourish and protect them from the plutocrats, lawmakers, politicians, governments? For those who are dead, their innocent lives were instantly cut short. We’ll never know the moment of terror they must have experienced. For the surviving children, the trauma to their psychological and nervous systems is incalculable. The physical loss of limbs, brain damage, and eyesight renders them invalided for life, and the loss of parents, siblings, whole families leave them abandoned to the vengeful rage of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. In the end, they will never know a future of kindness and love, so brutally ripped from their terrorized souls.

And we, the creators of war against children. What do we stand to lose? For those of us who lose loved ones in the immediate conflagration, it is emotional trauma. We are crippled. Some never recover. The long-term loss is more forgiving. We are good at denial; it softens the blow. But the real long-term loss is our future. When children have no future, where do we stand?

Is there a glimmer of humanity, a challenge, an opportunity for the world to mutiny out of the rubble of this human tragedy? I believe that every human has a spark of humanity, compassion, and empathy deep within our souls. We must locate that spark within the power brokers, the plutocrats, the real rulers of the world, and we must nourish it until it blossoms into the most beautiful flower that ever lived. We owe it to our children.

"The murder of children is non-debatable and non-negotiable." - David Rothauser

Click here for a PDF of this statement.

To: President-Elect Donald John Trump and the New Federal Administration
From: The US national section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Subject: Building Detente in Europe
Date: December 10, 2024

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, US national section (WILPF US) is a nonprofit membership organization committed to nonpartisanship. WILPF International is a non-governmental organization (NGO), assigned consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), that engages in dialogue impartially with all governments. WILPF has national sections and groups in forty-eight countries, with an international Secretary General and Secretariat based in Geneva. The WILPF International website is https://www.wilpf.org/.The WILPF US website is: https://wilpfus.org/. We will celebrate our 110^th anniversary in 2025.

Originally this statement started out as an emergency message on peace in Ukraine prompted by the tensions between superpowers threatening a nuclear war, as in 1962 and again in 1983. Without attempting to address the specifics of the diplomatic steps needed to resolve the immediate tragedy and crisis of the war in Ukraine, a topic we leave to the more knowledgeable in the political realities of today, we look ahead to the opportunities for detente that this peacemaking process may open.

From this perspective, we would like to address some concerns and issues related to averting or ending a new Cold War between the USA and the Russian Federation, and towards bringing about the vision of President Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the USSR, of "a common house of Europe."

1. The Importance of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) represents what President Gorbachev sought: a 21st-century approach to the yearnings of Europe for peace and security. In contrast, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a relic of the Cold War, a vestigial and dangerous organization analogous to the appendix in the human body, presenting the peril of provoking rather than preventing war, as may well have happened in the Ukraine conflict. We see the demilitarized architecture for Europe of Presidents Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan, including some crucially important arms control agreements at the end of the old Cold War, as a safer and saner guide to a flourishing "common house of Europe." 

The OSCE has concerned itself with Ukraine both before and after the outbreak of the current conflict (February 24, 2022) and should play an integral role in peace negotiations.

We emphasize that the effectiveness of the OSCE depends on the full inclusion of the Russian Federation in its proceedings. The 110 million Russians living within the European portion of their country deserve this closer integration into the civil society of Europe, and achieving this goal will be one important aspect of building a new and equitable global economic and political order based on multipolar plurality and peace. We note that Russia has deeply yearned for this integration into European civil society since the time of Czar Peter the Great (reigned 1682-1725), an aspiration recently and fittingly reaffirmed at St. Petersburg by an international conference of women, as detailed in Section 2 below.

We emphasize that using the OSCE is a thriftier path to European security for the USA than NATO. As President Dwight David Eisenhower declared (April 16, 1953):

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

It is also a more natural path, since the OSCE evolves out of the civil society of Europe. It is a safer path for Europe, the USA, and the world at large. 

We write at a time of present and urgent danger, as signaled by this November 19, 2024, statement of nuclear weapons doctrine from the Russian Federation:  

"Furthermore, a nuclear response is considered possible in the event of a critical threat to Russia's sovereignty, including through conventional weapons, including an attack on Belarus or a massive attack by warplanes, cruise missiles, drones or other aircraft crossing the Russian border." 

We see resolving this immediate crisis and negotiating peace in Ukraine as only the first steps toward detente with the Russian Federation and further development and expansion of the structures of peace for a safer world which President-Elect Trump's predecessors Presidents Ronald W. Reagan and George H. W. Bush helped to establish. WILPF is ready to offer dialogue and suggestions throughout this process. 

2. The Importance of Women in Conflict Resolution (UNSC Resolution 1325) and the St. Petersburg Conference on Peace, Nature, and Cooperation in the Baltic and the Arctic Regions and its Declaration (October 23, 2024) 

We also affirm the central role of women in peacemaking under UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSC Resolution 1325, October 31, 2000) and progeny. We see WILPF’s role of advising our government in the USA on war and peace issues as consistent with this UNSC resolution.

This role was highlighted by the St. Petersburg Conference on Peace, Nature, and Cooperation in the Baltic and Arctic Regions, which brought together an international group of women, including many from WILPF International, and their subsequent Declaration which is available here:  https://worldbeyondwar.org/declaration-from-the-international-conference-in-saint-petersburg-russia/ 

This Declaration urges: "Instead of the militarized concept of security, put emphasis on human and common security, prioritize peace, climate cooperation, environmental sustainability, equitable resource distribution as well as social, health and educational security." An important provision of the Declaration relates to the OSCE: "We call for an OSCE Summit in 2025 to mark its 50th anniversary –  and in the spirit of the Helsinki Summit in 1975 – to include Russia and a broad spectrum of civil society." 

We emphasize that peacemaking in Ukraine and detente in Europe could serve as a model and precedent for the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325 in other regions of the world, thus realizing the values of International WILPF.

3. Doveryay no proveryay: "Trust but verify"

We hold that a just and balanced peacemaking process resolving the Ukraine war should follow a favorite Russian adage for President Reagan: Doveryay no proveryay, or "Trust but verify." While saving Ukrainian and Russian lives is the immediate worthwhile goal, such a peace, beginning with good faith, can consist of and facilitate confidence-building measures which serve to verify the mutual trust of the parties and set the foundation for other agreements on arms control and peaceful and flourishing coexistence in a multipolar world. We see the fears of both sides, fueling a new Cold War, need to be addressed urgently:

(a) Fears on the part of the Russian Federation that the USA is out to dismember Russia and dominate the world. This worst-case scenario was regrettably made all too credible and plausible by the unwise Wolfowitz Doctrine, shortly after the old Cold War, holding that the USA would not tolerate "rivals" on the world stage (1992). We urge a swift repudiation of this pernicious doctrine which might well illustrate renowned Senator J. William Fulbright’s book title The Arrogance of Power. 

(b) Fears on the part of the USA and some Europeans that the Russian Federation is out to invade other European nations, a scenario much favored in the old Cold War. 

First and foremost, the DISARM/End Wars Committee of WILPF US declares that regardless of the specifics of a peace solution, the USA, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine must be willing to make some compromises and “cease fire” in order to agree on treaty parameters and prepare for a decade or more of cooperative restoration and rebuilding. This will be only one step in building detente in Europe.

From Darien De Lu
President

November 2024

WILPF Peace Seekers and Peace Supporters Wanted!

Do you want to help WILPF practice the peace-seeking principles we advocate? WILPF is looking for two types of volunteers for our new Peace Seekers Procedure for dispute resolution.

Even if you have little or no special background, you can volunteer to be a supporter. We’re looking for folks to help get the program off the ground by assisting with the creation of the basic administrative and dispute forms needed to proceed. We’re flexible—you can help with small, discrete tasks!

Or perhaps you have special peace-building skills? Are you trained, experienced, or knowledgeable in mediation, arbitration, nonviolent conflict resolution, or other aspects of dispute resolution?

If you’re interested in either type of assistance, please contact me, Darien De Lu, at President@wilpfus.org. Both types of volunteers are highly appreciated—and we especially want to hear from potential Peace Seekers applicants before the November 23 Board meeting, if possible!

Apply Now – WILPF International Advisory Board Member Alternate for the U.S. Section

Are you considering expanding your perspective to a wider realm? This fairly short-term Alternate position is a great opportunity for someone looking to become more involved with national and international leadership. As the Alternate, you would be invited to attend the WILPF International Advisory Board meetings twice a year, as well as the WILPF US Board meetings.

The virtual Advisory Board meetings address topics of general concern to WILPF International sections. (Because the meetings are international, they are often scheduled at awkward times for those in the U.S.) The terms for the Advisory Board Member and Alternate end about one to three months after the 2025 WILPF International Congress next summer. Incumbents may reapply for the next term; the full terms are approximately three years.

Applicants must have been WILPF US members for 24 out of the last 30 months and must also be current members. Please request your application—or additional information—from the Nominating Committee Chair, Ellen Schwartz, at nominatingchair@wilpfus.org and the full committee at nominatingcommittee@wilpfus.org. The deadline for submitting the application and a letter of introduction is Tuesday, November 19, at 11 p.m. local time.

No Jane Addams Branch “Events” this Month and in December!

The monthly third-Wednesday open gatherings, to which all WILPF members are welcome, are taking a break! The Jane Addams events will resume on January 15, with timely speakers from Korea Peace Now.

In February, we’ll hear from one of the leaders of the new Chicago Branch. Carron Little is an artist and the director of the Chicago Women's History Center. She has an intriguing art project that highlights the issue of unpaid labor in this country, especially among caregivers (primarily women). How much labor do you provide each year that is unpaid? This could include anything from helping at church, caregiving for grandkids, gardening for friends, caring for an elder (including your spouse!), or even cleaning the house!

To raise community awareness about the amount of unpaid labor our economy depends on, Carron writes each attendee at her art shows a printed “check”—covered in her own art—for their unpaid labor. Be sure to save February 20 for that Jane Addams Branch event!