[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 26 (Thursday, March 12, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 12, 1998

  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I've come to the floor on many 
occasions to talk about women's issues--most of the time it involves 
the women of this country.
  I've often said that there is much work to do on behalf of the women 
of this country. However, we have made much progress, that we should 
not take for granted, especially today as we commemorate 
``International Women's Day''.
  Fifty years ago in Paris Eleanor Roosevelt--working as the US 
representative to the UN Commission on Human Rights joined her fellow 
delegates in crafting the language of the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights. That document has set the standard for basic Human Rights 
for the last five decades. That declaration is what the world's courts 
and governments look to to set policy regarding the human condition.
  Unfortunately, some nations' governments do not include women in 
their definition of ``human'' because they are denied the basic rights 
that should be afforded any individual. There are women in some 
countries who are routinely beaten. They are sold to men as sex slaves. 
They are made prisoners of war where rape becomes a weapon.
  It is these women who cannot speak out, that my colleagues and I are 
remembering today.
  We speak for the millions of women in Africa who are subject to 
genital mutilation. We speak for the women in Mexico who are forced to 
take pregnancy tests and answer questions about their sexual habits as 
part of their job interviews. We speak for the women of Afghanistan who 
are not permitted to go to school or to enter the work force. They 
cannot leave their homes without being covered from head to toe. They 
are denied care in hospitals simply because of their gender. We speak 
for the tens of thousands of women in China who have been abducted or 
lured with promises of work or travel, then raped and beaten and forced 
into slavery. We speak out for the women in Peru where three cases of 
sexual violence occur every hour. We speak for these women because 
their voices deserve to be heard.
  One voice which is being heard is that of First Lady Hillary Rodham 
Clinton. She has met with women from every corner of the world and 
heard their horrific stories. Fifty years after First Lady Eleanor 
Roosevelt was crafting the language of the Universal Declaration for 
Human Rights, the First Lady is taking up her cause.
  At the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights the United States made 
its position clear with these words: ``Violence and discrimination 
against women don't just victimize individuals they hold back whole 
societies, guaranteeing human rights is a moral imperative with respect 
to both women and men. It is also an investment in making whole nations 
stronger, more fair, and better.''
  However, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 
Discrimination Against Women has been bogged down in the Senate for 17 
years. The United States must make its position on this issue clear.
  Fifty years ago a first lady of the United States was able to help 
shape opinions about the rights of women in countries around the world. 
Now, the United States is obliged to do as much. It must join the other 
161 nations in ratifying this convention, for the women of other 
countries and its own.

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