The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee's favorable vote today on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is a landmark in the advancement of women's rights, Human Rights Watch said. The committee voted twelve to seven in favor of sending CEDAW to the full Senate for ratification.
Today, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee seized an important opportunity to better protect women's rights in the United States and around the world," said LaShawn R. Jefferson, executive director of the Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. "Now it is crucial for the full Senate to take the next step and ratify CEDAW."
CEDAW is the most authoritative international human rights treaty to protect women from discrimination. It comprehensively addresses fundamental rights for women in politics, health care, education, employment, law, and marital and family relations. For example, countries that ratify CEDAW must take steps to ensure equality in marriage, including equal rights to choose marriage freely, and end discrimination in education, including professional and vocational training.
CEDAW's history in the U.S. Senate has been rocky. Former President Carter signed the treaty and sent it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for a vote in 1980. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee did not hold hearings on CEDAW until 1990. In 1993, sixty-eight senators signed a letter asking then President Clinton to support ratification of CEDAW. After a thirteen-to-five favorable vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1994, the full Senate failed to vote on CEDAW before the end of the congressional session.
"Today's vote brings CEDAW one step closer to ratification," said Jefferson.
