On Thursday, October 6, 2011 the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) conducted the Insights to Action: Solutions to Child Marriage event highlighting an international crime issue that has been plaguing our global community for decades.  Child marriage is a harmful traditional practice that denies 10 million girls a year their rights to health, education and security.  Every day, more than 25,000 girls are married before they turn 18, with little if any say in the decision.  That's 19 girls a minute denied their voice.  Insights To action: Solutions to Child Marriage by the International Center for Research on Women exposed a problem swept under the rug by the global community for years.  In recent years, national and international communities have begun to increasingly recognize child marriage as a serious issue, as it is a violation of girls' human rights and is a hindrance to key development outcomes.  The highest rates of child marriage

Getting two-thirds of the Senate to agree on anything is a daunting task. So it was no small feat when the Senate approved New START, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, during its December lame duck session. New START was the first major international agreement passed by the Senate since the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1997.

The United States is a bit schizophrenic when it comes to treaties. The U.S. government does a great job negotiating them. From the International Criminal Court to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, U.S. diplomats have forged very constructive compromises on major human rights and security agreements. Unfortunately, the U.S. Senate has a history of letting these accords molder.  The Senate and the White House still have a long list of treaties that are overdue for ratification.

The devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12th has led to a series of efforts to speed the adoption process for orphans in Haiti.  Some aid groups, however, have cautioned that a hasty process may not be in the best interests of the children and could open the door to child trafficking networks.

One issue revolves around knowing who is truly an orphan and who is not.  Save the Children Chief Executive, Jasmine Whitbread, said that family members may still be alive and taking children out of the country would "permanently separate thousands of children from their families - a separation that would compound the acute trauma they are already suffering".  Additionally, UNICEF spokesman, Christopher de Bono stated that it is not uncommon for Haitian parents to put their children in orphanages temporarily and, thus, finding out which children are in fact orphans requires great attention to detail and documents.