U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) reintroduced the International Violence Against Women Act on Friday, saying the international community needs to make the issue a priority.

If passed, the act would ensure the permanent role of the Office of Global Women’s Issues in the State Department, Schakowsky said in a news release, and guarantee a strategy that puts victims and survivors first. She added that it would update the country’s emergency responses to violence against women abroad.

The legislation was first introduced in 2015, but was not passed into law.

“If passed, this bill would make the eradication of violence against women a central piece of the United States foreign policy agenda,” Schakowsky said. “IVAWA would ensure that gender-based violence prevention and response are included in all of our humanitarian efforts around the globe.”

Schakowsky said in the release that last fall she worked with Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD) to pass the Women, Peace and Security Act, which took “major steps” toward ensuring that U.S. foreign policy is pro-woman. President Donald Trump signed the act into law on Oct. 6, and Schakowsky added that its passage shows the “time is now” to pass women’s equality legislation.

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