When Boko Haram kidnapped girls in Nigeria, the Obama administration voiced its strong opposition. Social media sprang into action, with millions鈥攊ncluding the First Lady and many members of Congress鈥攑articipating in the viral social media campaign calling on the terrorist network to "."
But we cannot combat gender-based violence and sex discrimination from the convenience of a Twitter handle. If we are serious about these issues, we must commit ourselves to global efforts to eliminate gender-based violence.
The tools to take on this and other atrocities are sitting right in front of us, but the U.S. government's response has too often been lip service instead of leadership. Fortunately, the Senate Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy, and Global Women's Issues held a yesterday on several potential actions we can take to combat sex discrimination at home and abroad.
The International Violence Against Women Act () would bolster and make permanent many of the Obama administration efforts to end violence against women and girls. The bill also would create a permanent ambassador-at-large position within the State Department and a senior gender coordinator position within USAID.
Ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women鈥攁lso known as the 鈥攊s decades overdue. First adopted by the UN in 1979, the treaty establishes a blueprint for ratifying countries to achieve equality for women and girls and holds them accountable to their obligations to address sex discrimination. As we said in our coalition letter in support of passage of I-VAWAand U.S. ratification of the treaty, the United States' failure to ratify the treaty "undermines its leadership in the global fight to combat discrimination and violence against women [and] calls into question its credibility" on the issue.
It's important to understand just exactly how these steps would help secure women's rights domestically and abroad.
Ratification would strengthen the U.S. government's hand in advocating for women's rights on the international stage by showing that the standards it calls on other countries to meet are ones it is willing to hold itself accountable to at home.
Moreover, ratification would enable the U.S. to influence global standard-setting on women's rights through participation in the human rights body established by the treaty, the Committee to End Discrimination Against Women. The Committee is charged with monitoring and enforcing the global protection of women's rights by every country that has ratified the treaty. As a member, the U.S. could help promote standards and rules to hold abusers accountable.
The past year has been a painful reminder of why both the Women's Equality Treaty and I-VAWA are so urgent. In the past two months alone, three women in India hanged from trees after having been brutally raped. Meanwhile, of sexual assault in war time continue to pour out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The U.S. government can and must act to stem this epidemic.
As proud believers in the basic rights of all people, we should feel shame for our government's failure to join this crucial system of human rights protection for women around the world. Ratification of the Women's Equality Treaty and passage of I-VAWA would be far more than a rhetorical or symbolic point; it will help us move from words of condemnation to a system of comprehensive action. Only in so doing can we effectively fight against gender-based violence and discrimination at their source.
Learn more about gender-based violence and other civil liberties issues: Sign up for breaking news alerts, , and .
Learn More 老澳门开奖结果 the Issues on This Page
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News & CommentaryDec 2024
Human Rights
Failed War on Drugs Policies Won't Stop the Overdose Crisis, But Harm Reduction Can Save LivesFailed War on Drugs Policies Won't Stop the Overdose Crisis, But Harm Reduction Can Save Lives
Research shows extensive benefits from syringe exchange and other harm reduction programs. But misguided efforts to ban common sense care continue. -
News & CommentaryDec 2024
Racial Justice
Human Rights
Why the Fight for Racial Justice is a Human Rights IssueWhy the Fight for Racial Justice is a Human Rights Issue
On International Human Rights Day, the 老澳门开奖结果 is advocating for a long-sought after reparatory justice to end the continued abuses against Black and brown communities. -
Press ReleaseOct 2024
Human Rights
Free Speech
Universities Should Protect Students鈥� Right to Protest, End Crackdown on Peaceful ProtestsUniversities Should Protect Students鈥� Right to Protest, End Crackdown on Peaceful Protests
WASHINGTON 鈥� College and university presidents across the U.S. need to respect and protect the right to protest in support of Palestinian rights the 老澳门开奖结果, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch said today in an open letter. For months the organizations have raised concerns about the potential use of unlawful force when university administrators call in law enforcement officers to break up demonstrations on campus. This new letter comes after reports of heavy-handed and excessive force by some campus police and local law enforcement against peaceful protests and encampments across the country. The groups provide recommendations for colleges and universities to ensure they protect the right to protest on their campuses. The organizations also urge university administrations to refrain from taking any further measures to suppress student protests on campus, including stopping the use of so-called less lethal weapons and ensuring that coercive police power is used only as a last resort, among other recommendations. 鈥淯niversities are responsible for protecting both physical safety and free expression on campus,鈥� said Jamil Dakwar, director at the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Human Rights Program. 鈥淚t鈥檚 deeply concerning to see universities needlessly expose students to police violence for peacefully expressing their political opinions. We鈥檙e urging schools once again to exercise restraint, practice de-escalation, and protect free speech and dissent on campus.鈥� Preliminary analysis by Amnesty International鈥檚 Digital Verification Corps has identified at least 174 photos, videos, or social media posts from 20 universities of potential excessive use of force by law enforcement under international law that merits further investigation. This includes 17 universities where chemical irritants such as pepper spray appear to have been used against student protesters, and 11 universities where officers appear to have responded to protests armed with kinetic impact projectiles such as rubber bullets. The results of this use of force by law enforcement agencies have been devastating, including media-verified reports of severe injuries such as bleeding puncture wounds, head injuries, broken teeth, and suspected broken bones, most notably at the University of California Los Angeles, Columbia University, and the City College of New York. The Digital Verification Corps also documented at least 10 other universities where photos or videos capture potential injuries to students. It found that half of the incidents involving injuries under investigation appear to be the result of chemical irritants. 鈥淭he information we have gathered on excessive use of force against student protesters is extremely worrisome and we are still in the beginning of our investigation,鈥� said Justin Mazzola, researcher with Amnesty International USA. 鈥淲ith the continuation of the Israeli military鈥檚 assault on Gaza and the risk of US complicity through the sending of weapons, campus protests in favor of stopping the violence and destruction will continue. Universities have a responsibility to protect academic freedom and the rights to freedom of expression, and to peacefully protest, and we will be watching to ensure they do.鈥� The 老澳门开奖结果, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch are not alone in their concern. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and several UN experts, including the UN special rapporteur on the right to education, have criticized the violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators by law enforcement and disciplinary measures against students exercising their rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. All higher education institutions, even private colleges and universities, where the First Amendment is not applicable, have a responsibility to respect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly under international law. 鈥淚nstead of resorting to police action that both shuts down free speech and heightens the risk of injuries, universities need to do more to protect student speech from violence and intimidation, and actively ensure that peaceful student expression continues without interference,鈥� said Tanya Greene, director of the US program at Human Rights Watch. As the letter explains, the 老澳门开奖结果, Amnesty International USA, and Human Rights Watch are conducting research and analysis of how campus administrators are responding to student protests. They urge universities to fulfill their human rights responsibilities by facilitating protests and ensuring that all students' rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, regardless of viewpoint, is respected. A comprehensive joint report on this issue is slated to be released by the 老澳门开奖结果 and Amnesty International USA in the coming months. The open letter is available here: /documents/letter-to-universities-student-protesters -
News & CommentaryOct 2024
Immigrants' Rights
Human Rights
Three Ways the Media Introduces Bias to the Immigration DebateThree Ways the Media Introduces Bias to the Immigration Debate
Ahead of the election, we examined how political ads and news media stories depict the immigration debate as more negative than it may be.