[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 85 (Thursday, June 23, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1317-E1318]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HENRY J. HYDE UNITED NATIONS REFORM ACT OF 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 17, 2005

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2745) to 
     reform the United Nations, and for other purposes:

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 2745, 
the Henry J. Hyde United Nations Reform Act, because I believe that 
withholding funds from the United Nations will not help it reform. 
Rather, decreased funding will slowly starve the organization and 
prevent it from fulfilling its mission of peace and high standards of 
human rights all over the world.
  With the passage of H.R. 2745, the United States declares it will 
withhold half of the dues it owes the United Nations. Restricting 
United Nations funds will have a devastating impact on the 
effectiveness of the Convention to Eliminate Discrimination Against 
Women: Treaty for the Rights of Women. This treaty supports 
international standards for basic human rights for women. It 
establishes a universal definition of discrimination against women, 
seeks legal protection for victims of violence, and equality in areas 
of health care, education and employment. Funds are essential in the 
establishment of equal rights for women: access to health care, 
education, and legal protection services is not free.
  The United States is the only industrialized nation that has not 
ratified the Treaty for the Rights of Women. Our Nation's withdrawal of 
funding for the organization that supports this essential doctrine of 
human rights is shameful, and not the action the world expects of a 
nation that declares freedom and liberty its unchanging identity.
  The need for the Treaty for the Rights of Women is undeniable. At 
least 4 million women and girls are sold into sexual slavery every 
year, two-third of the world's 799 million illiterate adults are women, 
and an estimated 25-30 percent of all women suffer domestic violence. 
The Treaty for the Rights of Women establishes international standards 
that serve to encourage world nations to eradicate injustices imposed 
on its female citizens, and to establish standards for basic human 
rights; the Treaty does not impose laws on any nation. For these 
reasons, the Treaty is in line with past treaties that support 
international standards, treaties that the United States has supported 
and subsequently funded through dues paid to the United Nations.
  Until this Nation, the seat of freedom and the land of liberty, 
declares to the world its commitment to equality, as embodied in the 
Treaty, and makes that commitment a reality through essential funding, 
we cannot expect other nations to follow our lead and adopt freedom as 
their creed. If we starve the United

[[Page E1318]]

Nations of necessary funding, we cannot expect it to become a more 
effective organization. Withholding funds from this worthy organization 
is the wrong way to urge its reform. It hinders the organization's 
efforts to reform and deprives the world of the benefits that treaties 
such as the Treaty for the Rights of Women advocate.

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