(Following are her prepared remarks)

Testimony of Congresswoman Connie Morella
June 13, 2002
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

Madam Chair, I congratulate you for holding this long overdue hearing on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. I join Congresswomen Woolsey, Maloney, and Millender-McDonald in strong support of its full ratification and thank you for allowing us this opportunity to speak for many Members m the House of Representatives who feel as strongly as we do.

Madam Chair, as you know, the Senate has already agreed to the ratification of several important human rights treaties, including the Genocide Convention, the Convention Against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination Against Women. CEDAW established a worldwide commitment to combat discrimination against women and girls -- yet the United States has neglected our responsibility to participate. 165 countries of the world have ratified or acceded to CEDAW and the United States is among a small minority of countries, including Afghanistan, North Korea, Iran, and Sudan, which have not.

Previous Administrations have proposed a small number of reservations, understandings, and declarations to ensure that United States ratification fully complies with all constitutional requirements, including the rights of States and individuals. The legislatures of California, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Vermont have all endorsed United States ratification of CEDAW. Yet we have seen no Senate action since President Carter signed the treaty and submitted it to the Senate for its consent in 1980.

Our over-due ratification of CEDAW would allow the United States to finally nominate a representative to the CEDAW oversight committee. Our vocal support for the human rights of every individual and our role as a world leader, should mandate our support for CEDAW and our lack of action is nothing short of embarrassing. The statistics surrounding the abuse and discrimination of women is staggering: around the world, at least 1 in every 3 women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Violence against women is one of the most common human rights violation -- and takes many forms --physical, sexual, and psychological -- and cuts across most countries, social groups, and socio-economic classes. Violence against women can occur in every setting -- in homes, streets, schools, and places of work.

Violence is a multidimensional issue that stems from women's subordinate status in society, women's economic dependence on men, and women's overall lack of power -- as is the case most commonly in developing nations. In most societies around the world, there are beliefs, norms, and social institutions that legitimize and perpetuate violence against women.

Women are particularly vulnerable to violence during times of political upheaval and economic instability. Although rape as a weapon of war has been internationally condemned, armies continue to use it in conflicts around the globe. For example, 1992, as many as 20,000 women were raped in the first few months of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and most recently we hear horrible accounts of women and girls being raped in Afghanistan as they try to return to their homes from refugee camps.

Violence prohibits many women from participating in the economy, being active in civic life, accessing educational opportunities, and obtaining health care. One out of every 5 healthy years of life are lost to women ages 15 to 44 as a result of violence. This loss of productivity impairs women's economic development and overall growth in their respective national economies.

War and violence have uprooted and displaced 35 million people worldwide from their homes -- 80 percent of these refugees are women and children. They have little access to basic food, medical care, hygiene, and shelter, but women are not only victims. They are taking the initiative to reach across the conflict divide and foster peace. In Mali and Liberia women joined together to collect arms. In Northern Ireland, Catholic and Protestant women created joint community development projects. Yet, despite women's positive roles in fostering peace, they are excluded from most peace negotiations.

The United States should actively engage in ways to eliminate the brutality women face around the world. One of the first, and most basic steps, is to adopt the objectives of CEDAW. We can also strengthen our support for programs that advocate for protective legislation, judicial accountability and enforcement of existing laws relating to the prevention of violence against women and girls. We should also encourage the integration of violence intervention into all sectors of United States international development assistance, invest in a variety of prevention programs, strengthen women's economic opportunities in order to improve their options and negotiating power outside of and within the home, and encourage communities to design response capabilities -- like health, police, judicial, and social services -- to respect the autonomy and meet the needs of victims.

Madam Chair, thank you again for this opportunity to share our frustration for the 22 years of inactivity on CEDAW. I hope that this hearing will finally create some movement on Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. I sincerely believe that its ratification will finally give the force of international law to our effort on behalf of women's rights, and also give us the credibility to be taken seriously on this issue when we advocate with foreign governments on behalf of human rights.