UN WOMEN’S TREATY PASSES US SENATE COMMITTEE

WASHINGTON, July 31, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 12 to 7 along party lines yesterday to send the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), a feminist United Nations agreement, to the full Senate—where a two-thirds vote would ratify it and force President Bush to block it or jeopardize pro-life support.  The treaty’s backers include liberal Senators Joe Biden (Delaware Democrat) and Barbara Boxer (California Democrat). Part of Boxer’s promotion strategy for the U.N. CEDAW committee is her misleading contention that CEDAW “has no enforcement power whatsoever” and can “only make recommendations.”  However, opponents of the treaty, which is supported by 167 radical special-interest groups in the U.S., point out that the CEDAW committee “exploits the treaty’s vague language to undermine democracy and promote abortions and prostitution,” the Washington Times reports. “Among other things, that committee has directed China to legalize prostitution and has criticized Belarus for establishing Mother’s Day,” Sen. Jesse Helms, a senior Republican, wrote yesterday. “These findings are simply out of step with generally held values of democratic nations.”  In fact, many countries with liberal governments have changed numerous laws to comply with the hectoring of the undemocratic CEDAW committee. This has prompted Sen. George Allen (Virginia Republican) to warn that the treaty can, in fact, “be used for litigation in this country.”  To read Washington Times coverage see:  https://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20020731-6619224.htm