30 Years Later, US Again Takes Up CEDAW, International Women's Treaty

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and US Secretary of State Hillary ClintonBeyond the Veil| Can you imagine being Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal being told that America’s Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is on the line and she wants to protest an 8-year-old Saudi girl being sold to a man in his 50s to pay off her father’s debt?

In 1980 the United States signed CEDAW, an international treaty on the rights of women.

Unlike 186 other countries of the world, the United States has failed to ratify CEDAW, larged because of opposition from Republican and Conservative members of the Senate. Our company in nations not ratifying CEDAW includes Sudan, Iran, Qatar and Somalia.

Signers of CEDAW agree to review their women’s rights policies, even when they are in conflict with religious beliefs. It’s true that countries like Saudi Arabia passed CEDAW but added a stipulation that women’s rights must not be in conflict with sharia law.

CEDAW is back.

When she became Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton vowed to get the International Women’s Treaty passed.

The debate is on. Hearings began last week. Listen as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verneer testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Chairman Richard Durbin.

‘Women’s Rights Are Human Rights’