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Oregon Citizens
Why would Sen. Gordon Smith vote to hand over our right to determine our laws to an unaccountable committee at the United Nations? If the U.N. treaty that he supported in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is ratified by the full Senate, every radical liberal dream, including women in combat, abortion, rights for sexual deviancies, wages set by bureaucrats, could be imposed upon us. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is the Equal Rights Amendment on steroids. It defines "discrimination" as "any distinction ... on the basis of sex," in "any ... field." In other words, no one is allowed to recognize the wonderful differences between men and women. Even in the most personal of relationships - family, marriage and religious. The treaty requires governments to "modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women." It commands governments to revise textbooks and teaching methods to promote gender neutrality. CEDAW claims that "traditional roles" must change for men and women to achieve equality. But who decides what is a traditional role, and which culture should prevail? A U.N. committee of 23 "experts" that oversees the treaty's implementation. This committee currently includes representatives from China (which forcibly aborts women), Cuba (which murders women who attempt to escape the island), Turkey and Indonesia (identified as among the worst countries for sexually trafficked women and girls). Other countries that ratified CEDAW and could sit on the committee are Iraq (which uses chemical weapons against its women), North Korea (which starves and oppresses its women), and Saudi Arabia (which systemically discriminates against females, and refuses to return kidnapped American women to their families). Lets look at actions of the CEDAW committee. It has:
* Told China to decriminalize prostitution. And the list goes on. The CEDAW Committee interferes in domestic issues, even going beyond the mandate of the treaty itself. Proponents of CEDAW claim that ratifying the treaty will not affect the U.S. It will only add America's prestige to the document. But there is a smoking gun proving that activists intend to use CEDAW to challenge our laws. The American Bar Association produced The CEDAW Assessment Tool, a document to score countries on their compliance with the treaty. It asks, "What training programs exist to educate judges and other legal professionals about CEDAW's precedence over national law?" Our own courts and regulatory system will be used to overturn democratically decided laws. CEDAW goes farther even than the failed Equal Rights Amendment in its intrusive and extreme demands. Yet the ERA was defeated 20 years ago. It would be an abuse of power for Sen. Smith to bind the U.S. to a treaty - which the Constitution calls the "supreme law," equal in authority to the Constitution - that is in principle the same thing that Americans rejected. The United States has sufficient protection for women against unfair discrimination based on sex. The best thing to help women in other countries is to promote free and democratic societies. That is what advances human rights and economic prosperity. Ratifying CEDAW would condemn women in America and around the world to destructive social policies that devastate the foundation for stable societies - marriage and family. Sen. Smith - change your vote. Oppose CEDAW.
Suzanne Brownlow
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