Originally published on the CGS blog on January 8, 2013.
It seems that every morning brings a fresh headline that documents another grotesque violation of girls and women’s human rights. From the horrifying New Delhi and Steubenville gang rape cases, to gender-based violence all over the world, it seems that the world is finally waking up to the discrimination and victim-blaming that women endure. I am noticing more and more that people – women and men – are getting fed up with these abuses to human rights.
Last week GlobalSolutions.org and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights organized a group to head to Capitol Hill to urge Senators that the 113th Congress has a duty to finally ratify the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). With the record number of women in the United States Senate, this goal has never been more attainable, and with the surge in news coverage of women’s rights abuses, the stakes have never been higher. We gave each Senator the thousands of petition signatures and an organizational sign on letter with more than 110 organizations urging them to make this global commitment to protect women and their human rights.
Sure, the United States can condemn the human rights abuses we have seen in the last year. But is time that we make a lasting and powerful statement to our commitment to women’s rights and ratify the treaty that 187 out of 194 have already ratified.
When a woman in Ireland was left to die in the hospital, the world saw thousands of protesters in the streets. When a brave young Pakistani girl was targeted by a disgusting act of misogyny and terrorism, the United States and the world supported her back to health.
But it cannot end there. Yes, we can rally behind each woman or girl who gets attacked, discriminated against, raped, or murdered merely for being a female. But how many more tragedies will have to happen before we get serious about women’s human rights? What was once an acceptable dismissal of women’s rights abuses is now unacceptable. Arguments like: violence is inevitable, rape is a fact of life, and maybe she should have been more careful. I see the world fighting back against these justifications like never before.
The state of women in a country determines how prosperous and safe that country is. It is time for the United States Senate to ratify CEDAW and make that commitment to better the state of women not only in our country, but to make that commitment on a global scale. Aside from being the least productive Congress in the recent history, the 112th congress failed to renew the Violence Against Women Act for the first time in 18 years. If the United States continues to consider itself as a leader on protecting human rights, we must show the world we are serious about protecting women and girls. Otherwise, words are just words, and the United States will be left behind.
