Advocates Applaud Secretary Clinton’s Commitment to Women’s and Human Rights

Call for Further Action from Obama Administration

Washington, DC – Today, on the 15^th anniversary of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to women’s rights at the United Nations.  In her speech, Clinton spoke about the international progress on women’s issues, as well as the work still left to be done. 

The Campaign for a New Domestic Human Rights Agenda applauds Clinton’s lifetime dedication to human rights and is encouraged by the continued commitment of the United States to uphold such important values, both internationally and domestically.  Today’s speech at the United Nations underscores the importance of women’s rights as human rights and elevates the position here at home. 

The presence of women as high-level representatives of the U.S. government must be assessed against the backdrop of our inability to translate the rhetorical commitment to women’s human rights into reality.  As was the case fifteen years ago, the United States has yet to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. In addition, the United States has not fully implemented ratified treaties such as the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which requires that the different ways in which women and men experience racial discrimination be accounted for and addressed.  Furthermore, the United States lacks a human rights infrastructure through which compliance, enforcement and implementation of our domestic human rights obligations can be coordinated, monitored and fully met. 

The work of groups such as the Campaign for a New Domestic Human Rights Agenda, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights demonstrates both the demand and the need for this type of comprehensive and coordinated approach as a first step to making good on the Obama Administration’s human rights promises and commitments.  Such an approach is essential to putting this country on the path to leading by example and disavowing the exceptionalism that, for far too long, has marked our country’s view of itself and its obligations to respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of women and men alike. 

Today, we urge Secretary Clinton and the Obama Administration to add a new component to the common understanding of human rights, and begin to think about how human rights are parts of our daily lives.