Click here to view and download a pdf version of this letter. 

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), U.S. Section, calls upon the U.S. Senate to immediately ratify the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the CEDAW Convention, the historic international bill of rights for women’s human rights.  As an international non-governmental organization with UN consultative status, WILPF was a vital part of the decades-long process culminating in the adoption of the CEDAW Convention. In 1974, WILPF formally instructed its sections in various countries to engage their governments in the crafting of an international human rights convention which would “bring together the various aspects of women’s rights to form international law,” because we understood that “only through the intensive participation of women can best possible development in each country . . . and world peace [be] achieved.”

The CEDAW Convention was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 18, 1979 and signed, on behalf of the United States, by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. Yet, thirty years later, this powerful treaty has yet to be ratified by the U.S. Senate. The US is the only country to sign but not ratify the Convention.

TO: Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs

The undersigned organizations are writing to urge you to oppose the President’s FY2010 budget request for $2.775 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Israel, an increase of $225 million in military aid compared to FY2009.  At this time of acute economic crisis, as well as from a political, legal, security, and moral standpoint, our country should not continue to provide Israel with this blank check.

Israel consistently misuses U.S. weapons purchased through FMF to commit grave human rights abuses against Palestinians and systematic violations of international law in its illegal 42-year military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip. Some of those violations are documented every year in the State Department's own human rights reports; far more are documented by the United Nations and human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. 

Click here to view and download a pdf version of this letter

May 20, 2009

Dear Senator/Representative:

Afghan women desperately need our help. As you consider the FY09 supplemental funding bill, aid for critically needed educational, occupational and health programs for Afghan women and girls must be included.

We urge you to include funding in the supplemental funding bill that will go directly to Afghan women-led non-profit organizations providing programs for Afghan women and girls, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and the Ministry of Women's Affairs. 

Statement on US Involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Click here to view and download a pdf version of this statement

Click here to read the letter to Congress urging aid be given to Afghan women

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, U.S. Section, opposes military action to resolve the armed conflict in Afghanistan. Specifically, we cannot support the sending of 30,000 additional U.S. troops into the country and the use of drone aircraft there and in Pakistan. We call for the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO military forces.

It should be self evident that the use of violent force by another country cannot lead to the elimination of violence and armed conflict within Afghanistan. The very people the U.S. claims must be protected from Taliban insurgents are actually endangered by the presence of U.S and NATO troops. According to figures provided by the United Nations, at least 2100 Afghan civilians died in conflict related deaths in 2008. Of these, at least 1000 were killed by Taliban or other insurgents, who often target communities where U.S. military forces have had a presence. At least 800 civilians were killed in 2008 by Afghan government forces or by occupying U.S. and NATO forces, and of these at least 445 were killed by air strikes. Afghan women’s organizations, such as the Revolutionary Association of Afghan Women, and women’s organizations involved in in-country initiatives, such as Madre and the Global Fund for Women, have consistently stated that the occupying U.S. military presence increases the level of violence in Afghan communities resulting in more civilian deaths and abductions and more dangerous conditions for women seeking to participate in public life, peace building, and civilian governance.