PHR Student Blog

Women all over the world are facing discrimination, abuse and systematic inequities that make then especially vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Until we protect women from sexual violence and exploitation, provide health and prenatal care and education, and provide all women the socioeconomic power to negotiate safer sex practices, HIV/AIDS will continue to disproportionately affect women in many parts of the world.

This year, in keeping with the 2009 theme of Universal Access and Human Rights, we’re dedicating World AIDS Day and Human Rights Day to getting the United States to ratify the Convention to End All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Join us for the 10,000 in 10 campaign, which aims to collect ten thousand signatures for US ratification of CEDAW during the ten days between World AIDS Day (Dec 1) and Human Rights Day (Dec 10)!

There are a variety of opportunities to join the national action, depending on your interest and capacity:

1. Mobilize the health professional student and faculty communities to urge the US to ratify CEDAW as a step forward in protecting women’s rights and health. PHR is doing this in partnership with a number of other organizations, allowing for a greater national movement. Our challenge to each PHR chapter: collect 100 signatures of support for CEDAW from your community.
2. Host educational events on campuses nationwide about women, HIV, and the human rights context/approach.
3. Organize an in-district meeting with your Senator to personally deliver the signatures you collect and urge him or her to support CEDAW.

As you plan your school’s involvement in World AIDS Day, download our 2009 World AIDS Day Toolkit to receive educational & organizing resources to reach out to students and faculty, organize successful events, and educate members of your community. And stay tuned to the Student Blog for more hands-on advocacy resources available mid-November.

Sudan, Qatar, Tonga, Palau, Nauru, Iran, Somalia…United States? The US has the dubious distinction of being one of only eight United Nations member states (out of 192) who have failed to ratify the Convention to End All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

CEDAW, which was adopted by the U.N. general assembly in 1979, is the premier document in international law dealing with women’s rights. CEDAW addresses a diverse array of women’s rights and human rights issues including equality in civil, social, political and economic life, protection from sexual violence, and reproductive freedom. As President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton work to move the United States to the forefront of international human rights and women’s rights work, it is imperative that we ratify CEDAW and demonstrate that we are serious about our obligations to the international community and to women worldwide.

This year, in recognition of both World AIDS Day (Dec 1) and Human Rights Day (Dec 10), PHR and other partnering organizations will mount a 10,000 signatures in 10 days campaign. Join us in letting your senator know that it’s time for the United States to ratify CEDAW and commit to women’s rights worldwide. We’ll be posting an educational and event planning toolkit next week, with many more World AIDS Day resources to follow, so stay tuned!

World AIDS Day is coming up, and this year’s theme is Human Rights and Universal Access. To stop AIDS, we must promote and protect human rights—especially those of women and girls. Therefore, to celebrate World AIDS Day 2009, PHR is launching a campaign to urge the US Senate to ratify CEDAW—and to officially recognize that protecting women promotes their health and the health of societies worldwide.

CEDAW, or the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, is an international convention adopted by the United Nations in 1979. It serves as an international bill of human rights for women, specifically extending provisions laid out by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to women while also addressing issues unique to women worldwide. Many of the provisions laid out in CEDAW, such as the right to health for women, the right to civil and domestic equality, and the right to reproductive freedom, directly pertain to controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS. Although women all over the world have used CEDAW to enact positive changes in their own countries, the United States remains one of only eight member countries of the U.N. that have not ratified CEDAW—the others include Iran, Sudan and Somalia. This World AIDS Day, we’re looking to change that.

To gear up for your school’s involvement in World AIDS Day, here are a few introductory factsheets on CEDAW and U.S. Ratification. Use these as articles for discussion groups, addendums to relevant course reading, informational handouts during tabling or events, etc. These serve as a great way to familiarize yourself, your chapter, and your peers with what CEDAW is and how the United States can join the international community in supporting women’s rights:

• The American Bar Association’s Information on and Summary of CEDAW
• Amnesty International’s CEDAW Factsheet and Common Myths
• Amnesty’s CEDAW and Maternal Health Factsheet
• The Working Group on Ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women’s Factsheet

For a more in depth read, check out these sites:

• Official CEDAW Site with the Full Text of CEDAW
• U.N. CEDAW Committee Webpage

If you’re wondering how exactly CEDAW and the global AIDS pandemic relate:

• UNIFEM’s free informational booklet on CEDAW and AIDS, Turning the Tide
• UNAIDS Global Coalition on Women and AIDS

Finally, check out some of PHR’s material on the feminization of the pandemic:

• Epidemic of Inequality: Women’s Rights and HIV/AIDS in Botswana & Swaziland
• Health Rights=Healthy Women Platform
• Halting the Feminization of AIDS: Lessons from Kenya

PHR will join the globe in celebrating World AIDS Day (WAD) on December 1, 2009. This year’s WAD theme is Universal Access and Human Rights. The critical message: access for all to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care is a fundamental human right we all must fight to protect.

Given this year’s theme, PHR and other partnering organizations will bridge World AIDS Day (Dec 1) with Human Rights Day (Dec 10) with a 10,000 signatures in 10 days campaign, mobilizing American’s to advocate for U.S. ratification of the Convention to Eliminate All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2010.

What does CEDAW do for women’s right?
CEDAW creates a legal, universal definition of women’s rights and discrimination against women. It includes: direction for ratified countries to ensure national laws respect the universal standards, monitoring processes for women’s rights standards worldwide, and forums for handling grievances and holding governments accountable. Learn more about CEDAW.

If the US wants to play a credible and influential leadership role on health, human rights and women’s empowerment—As president Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have promised—it must ratify the most prominent international law for women.

Why push for CEDAW on World AIDS Day?
Women and young girls presently comprise more than 60% of those who are living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, and the numbers continue to grow. Any solution to the epidemic must acknowledge the devastating gender dynamics of AIDS and place women’s empowerment at the center of the solution. To halt the feminization of AIDS, we must address the root causes of HIV/AIDS transmission, many of which are based on human rights violations such as widespread gender-based violence, stigma and discrimination, and inequalities and violations of economic, social, legal, health and educational rights.

The most vexing and intolerable dimension of the pandemic is what is happening to women. Gender inequality is driving the pandemic, and we will never subdue the gruesome force of AIDS until the rights of women become paramount in the struggle.
-Stephen Lewis, Keynote Speech at International AIDS Conference, Toronto

Join us!
Mark your calendars for Dec 1-Dec 10 to:

• mobilize your campus to participate in this national action by urging your Senators to support U.S. ratification of CEDAW and helping PHR collect 10,000 signatures
• educate your community about the feminization of AIDS and its direct connection to women’s rights standards.

Throughout the next few weeks, we will launch a series of educational and organizing resources to help you plan your national WAD action. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me with any questions and requests for further information.