New Visions for International Law and U.S. Foreign Policy
The Global Justice Center is issuing a series of White Papers, "New Visions for International Law and U.S. Foreign Policy". This series focuses on the challenges and opportunities for the Obama administration to advance international human rights law at home and abroad.
- CEDAW and Reproductive Rights - Issued November 2008
This paper is aimed at exposing the dangerous domestic and global ramifications of the compromised U.S. version of CEDAW currently under consideration by the U.S. Senate. Most supporters of ratification of CEDAW do not realize they are supporting a seriously politically compromised, gutted version of CEDAW; which if ratified is a step backward in developing equality law, not forward. The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations appended eleven "reservations, understandings and declarations" (RUDs) to the original clean CEDAW signed by President Carter in 1980. These RUDs strike at the heart of CEDAW; its definition of the right to gender equality which subjects even laws which are facially neutral to be examined for their actual effect on women's lives. The U.S. gutted version upends this standard and substitutes a narrow definition which would preclude women from using CEDAW to challenge laws based on the physical differences between men and women. The most deceptive RUD is on abortion, reading: "nothing in this convention shall be construed to reflect or create any right to abortion and in no case should abortion be promoted as a method of family planning." (emphasis added) Although this last phrase may appear to be neutral in fact it was drafted to be used as an antiabortion tool and could set back advances being made by women around the globe to use CEDAW to advance gender real, de facto, gender equality. - The 1973 Helms Amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act and the Mexico City "gag rule" on USAID funding - Forthcoming
As a result of the 1973 Helms Amendment, United States' foreign assistance initiatives censor grantees' speech on abortion. This includes UN agencies such as UNIFEM and UNFPA and the millions of dollars of UN sponsored advocacy promoting the Millennium Development Goals,including - reducing maternal mortality and promoting gender equality - for which legal abortion is a key factor. The repeal of the "gag rule" and, more importantly, of the Helms' Amendment, is key to the United States being a leader on real equality. This censorship exacerbates women's susceptibility to HIV/AIDS and unequal access to treatment because of gender, violence, and power relationships is intensified by discriminatory reproductive rights laws, including the criminalization of abortion. - U.S. Ratification of the Rome Treaty (ICC) - Forthcoming
One of the most important steps the US can take in truly becoming a partner in enforcement of international law is to join the 105 countries who are already a party to the treaty and ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Ratification of the Rome Statute not only would show the US commitment to an enforceable international legal regime, but would also be part of raising the international standard for access to justice for women globally. - U.S. Implementation of Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820 on Women, Peace and Security - Forthcoming
Resolutions 1325 and 1820 were groundbreaking advances in their recognition that women have a right to participate in all decision making processes in conflict prevention and resolution and have a vital role to play in ensuring those processes are successful. The resolutions also establish that sexual and gender-based violence in conflict is a threat to peace and requires Chapter VII action by the UN Security Council. These resolutions go to the heart of the Global Justice Center's mission of embedding gender equality during times of transition and the U.S. has a key role to play in ensuring that they are given meaning on the ground.