Overcoming Taliban Attack, Youth Advocate Malala Yousafzai Addresses the United Nations and Speaks for Women’s Rights and the Right of All Children to Be Educated

By Ally Scher, a Summer 2013 Leadership Conference Education Fund Intern

Undeterred by a Taliban militant who boarded a school bus last year and wounded her with a gunshot to the head, Malala Yousafzai addressed the United Nations (UN) on her sixteenth birthday, July 12, and continued her inspiring work speaking out about the right to education.

In her address to the UN, Malala said, “So today, we call upon the world leaders to change their strategic policies in favor of peace and prosperity. We call upon the world leaders that all of these deals must protect women and children’s rights. A deal that goes against the rights of women is unacceptable.”

With young activists such as Malala showing incredible courage in the face of violent repression, it is disheartening that the United States has yet to ratify The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) — an important international treaty that could help millions of women achieve greater equality, security and freedom.

Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979, CEDAW is described as “an international bill of rights for women.” The Convention provides the basis for realizing equality between women and men. According to the UN, CEDAW “defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination.”

“The CEDAW committee that monitors treaty compliance has grilled Pakistan about Malala’s case and called for strong action to stop violence against women and girls and all forms of extremism,” said June Zeitlin, Director of the CEDAW and Human Rights Education Project at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “That call would be stronger if the U.S. also ratified CEDAW. That seems the very least we can ask the U.S. Senate to do.”

Ratification of CEDAW can help to reduce sex trafficking and domestic violence, provide access to education and vocational training, ensure the right to vote, and provide access to maternal health care, among many other important things, to women everywhere. U.S. ratification would also give the United States far more leverage and credibility in the international community regarding women’s rights issues than it has now, helping women and girls around the world.

One hundred and eighty-seven countries have ratified CEDAW. The United States remains among the seven countries that have yet to ratify the treaty, along with Iran, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Palau, and Tonga.

President Obama’s administration strongly supports the ratification of CEDAW, but the treaty has not been brought to a vote on the Senate floor.