NOW Demands Funding for Global Women’s Human Rights

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, is often described as an international bill of rights for women. But today, those rights are threatened by budget cuts that have removed safeguards for women's rights and end the global commitment to end discrimination against women in all its forms.

The Convention defines discrimination against women as "…any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field."

Staffing has been slashed and essential funding cut at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Those actions have left the department unable to carry on its mandated responsibilities to eliminate discrimination, including fewer investigations, reduced field presence, and decreased support for the implementation of international law.

NOW has passed numerous resolutions in support of CEDAW over the decades, as well as programs such as US Cities for CEDAW and the Ratify Women campaign that brought together the call for the Equal Rights Amendment and CEDAW.

189 countries have ratified CEDAW. But the United States is one of only seven countries - the others being Iran, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Palau and Tonga - that have yet to ratify the treaty.

In other countries, CDEAW has helped:

• Reduce the sexual enslavement and trafficking of women and girls
• Secure basic legal recourse to women and girls against violence and abuses of their human rights
• Free access to primary education and health care where it had previously been denied
• Save lives during pregnancy and childbirth
• Acknowledge the basic right to own and inherit property, including helping to secure essential development loans to poor women

A UN Women report shows that half of the organizations aiding women in crises are in danger of shutting down due to budget cuts. Without women's rights organizations, survivors of gender-based violence have fewer safe places to turn. Women's health and economic security are increasingly at risk.

NOW members demand that the U.S. support full funding for programs that advance the human rights of all women and girls, locally and globally.