Take Action
Take Action § Human Rights
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Descrimination Against Women
As stated in the Beijing Platform for Action: "All human rights - civil, cultural, economic, political and social, including the right to development - are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated." From the adoption in 1979 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW and the Optional Protocol in 1999, to the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) and the Beijing +5 Declaration (2000) there has been an increasing acknowledgement of the need to focus on the rights of women and girls.
The advancement of women and the attainment of equality are matters of human rights. They are the only way to build a sustainable, just and fully developed society. Empowerment of women and equality between women and men are prerequisites for achieving political, social, economic, cultural and environmental security among all peoples.
The impact of globalization emphasizes the need to balance the rights of the individual, the rights of governments and the rights of society. In many parts of the world today, basic human rights are at best de jure rather than de facto, or are only applied to some of the population.
Globalization poses a threat to women's rights when it causes the feminization of poverty, decreases the rights to land and space, and limits civil and political rights. We must advocate for
- protection of the girl child
- the right to an acceptable standard of living for all people
- equal access to education for women and girls
- equal pay and equal rights for women workers
- freedom of speech and the globalization of the media
- the rights of refugees, who are most often women and children
- the rights of indigenous people
- the rights of the ageing
- the rights of the disabled
We must denounce violations of women's rights in our countries, such as:
- violence against women in the home, the community, and in times of war
- trafficking in women and girls for prostitution
- cultural practices leading to the spread of HIV/AIDS
- denial of women's land and inheritance rights
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is currently stalled in the US Senate. Ratifying this treaty will lend a much-needed boost to our country's image internationally and help women refugees.
To take action, download this Word document, sign it, and send it to your elected senators.
