Posted on 02/26/2005 8:45:16 AM PST by FreeManDC
Another U.S. Withdrawal at the United Nations? Leaders to Bush Admin.: U.S. Must Reaffirm Historic Women's Human Rights Agreement
2/25/2005 12:15:00 PM
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To: National Desk
Contact: Nancy Bennett, 800-834-1110, or Ketayoun Darvich-Kodjouri, 202-326-8720
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Leaders from human rights and women's development organizations are sounding the alarm about the possible U.S. withdrawal from a historic women's human rights agreement currently under review at the United Nations.
Governments are gathering in New York City over the next two weeks to revisit women's progress since the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women met in Beijing in 1995. The U.S. was a leading architect of the Beijing Platform for Action, where 189 countries committed to advancing universal education for girls, ending violence against women, and ensuring access to lifesaving reproductive health care, among other critical issues.
Late yesterday, in quiet negotiations out of the public eye, the Bush administration signaled to other nations that it would not unequivocally reaffirm the commitments made by the United States to the world's women a decade ago.
"I am extremely concerned that the U.S. will withdraw its support for women's human rights on the world's stage," said June Zeitlin, executive director of the Women's Environment and Development Organization. "This is in stark contrast to our government's rhetoric supporting women's rights in Afghanistan and Iraq, and would be a terrible step backward."
"The U.S. should reaffirm, not retreat from, women's rights and equality. Globally, this is about saving women's lives," said Eleanor Smeal, president of Feminist Majority.
It was at the 1995 Beijing Women's Conference that women around the world took up the rallying cry: "women's rights are human rights." An estimated 6,000 women from non-governmental organizations are expected to join the government delegations at the upcoming review of women's status since the Beijing meeting. The ten-year review takes place February 28-March 11 at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
With concern for the U.S. position, more than 30 U.S. organizations sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice late last week to urge the Bush administration not to withdraw from the U.S. pledge made at the Beijing Women's Conference. Leaders noted that the Beijing review was Secretary Rice's first official opportunity to speak about women's rights. They asked Secretary Rice for help in shoring up the U.S. commitment to global women's rights.
"With world governments gathering to discuss women's rights, the United States has an important opportunity to renew its leadership," said Alex Arriaga, Amnesty International's director of government relations. "We urge the Bush administration to keep the U.S. pledge to advance human rights for women."
More information on the ten-year review of the UN Beijing Women's Conference, and a copy of the letter to Secretary Rice, is online at http://www.PLANetWIRE.org.
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Amnesty International; Center for Health and Gender Equity; Center for Women's Global Leadership; Feminist Majority; U.S. Committee for UNFPA; Women's Edge Coalition; Women's Environment and Development Organization
http://www.usnewswire.com/
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just because men disagree with the radical feminists, does not mean that men are against equality.
it means that men are against socialism.
This is a trick by the UN to impose abortion on the world. We should not support it.
If Eleanor "pap" Smeal is fer it - I'm agin it.
Are they referring to the ChiCom mandatory abortions to enforce the one-child policy or perhaps infanticide when the child born happens to be a girl?
America actually liberates women. The UN talks about it.
Hill's baby as I recall.
More here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/785345.stm
YES!!!!!
Kofi annan tries to piss on the USA by trying to organize a global security force under UN control, tries to LIE and say the UN did the initial relief work for the Tsunami disaster. (if you watched the BBC you never even knew the USA was there, it was all UN cooooordinated.)
GW Bush MUST keep kicking the UN. They obviously have not learned their lesson.
Oh, yeah, as I remember, Hillary was right at home with the Chi-Coms.
Where were they when Saddam's regime was raping, torturing and murdering women?
As I recall they were all busy standing "shoulder to shoulder" showing support for Bill Clinton.
This statement is wrong. Human rights are human rights. Women possess those rights, but they have no right to anything more or anything less. The previous conference was just an opportunity for Hillary and her cohorts to sit around squawking about what they wish could be. We have no reason to support the furtherance of her demented wishes. If the president goes through with reducing support for that nonsense, he will have done a very good thing for this nation and this world. Applause to President Bush.
Bill
Supported by . . . Amnesty International; Center for Health and Gender Equity; Center for Women's Global Leadership; Feminist Majority; U.S. Committee for UNFPA; Women's Edge Coalition; Women's Environment and Development Organization; Blah, blah, blah.
As an aside . . . I don't profess to know squat about ALL the issues this pertains to but if these folks are for it, I suspect it ain't in our best interest.
OOOOOpppppsssss! LOL. I should've read ALL the threads and I'd known about Hitlery.
I am not sure the 100 million aborted girls would agree with that assessment.
Mark
These are some of the areas where the U.S. position differs from the existing agreement.
err....retreat? What are you smoking you twit?
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