01 February 2007

Stop CEDAW

From C-FAM's Friday Fax:

CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women) is touted by supporters as the International Women's Rights Treaty. The treaty itself is full of nice sounding language about women's equality, something we are all for. But the implementing committee of the treaty, a body that governments must appear before every few years, is as radical as you can get. Here are a few examples of their work.

• The treaty condemns prostitution but the committee has directed governments to legalize prostitution.
• The CEDAW committee has directed 37 pro-life governments to change their laws on abortion, even though the treaty is SILENT on abortion,
• The CEDAW committee has criticized Ireland for allowing the Church to have too strong a voice on public policy.
• The committee has directed Lybia to reinterpret the Koran to fall within committee guidelines (how long before they try that on Christian countries).

Dozens of countries have ratified CEDAW but so far the US has resisted. Democrats in the Senate will be pushing ratification of the treaty. You can sign the petition here.