Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer testified today before the Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law on The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). In her testimony, Ambassador Verveer said:
"...This hearing could not come at a more critical time for the world's women. Gender inequality and oppression of women is rampant across the globe. The scale and savagery of human rights violations committed against women and girls is nothing short of a humanitarian tragedy. Today, violence against women is a global pandemic. In some parts of the world, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burma, and Sudan, women… more »
At last week's launch of the GSMA mWomen Program, a project initiated by the GSMA Development Fund, Secretary Clinton announced U.S. support for building public-private partnerships to advance mobile technology for women in the developing world and to close the global gender gap that prevents hundreds of millions of women from gaining access to this technology. The event was enlightening, inspiring, and energizing. The GSMA mWomen Program aims to halve, in three years, the number of women who have been left on the sidelines of the… more »
About the Author: Irene Marr serves as a Foreign Affairs Officer in the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues.
I remember first seeing the striking, heartrending images of young Afghan child brides -- girls living in poverty who were forced to marry men old enough to be their fathers or grandfathers -- when the photos appeared in a 2006 Sunday New York Times Magazine essay on the topic of forced early marriage. One of these iconic photos was on display in the U.S. Congress at a briefing on child marriage held by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on July 15. Such pictures serve as a sobering reminder that the practice of early marriage is still far too common in many parts of the world -- particularly in developing countries where opportunity is lacking and in societies… more »
About the Author: Irene Marr serves as a Foreign Affairs Officer for the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, and covers Western Hemisphere countries, including Haiti.
It is hard to believe that the people of Haiti are being tested yet again – an earthquake so powerful it is being called the worst crisis the country has ever faced. Haiti certainly is no stranger to crisis; little over a year ago it was hit by multiple hurricanes. Storms ravaged the city of Port-au-Prince, displacing 150,000 people from their homes. Ranking… more »
like it ! Excellent tool for women to protect ourselves !!
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Gary in Washington DC writes:
I agree that men and boys play critical roles in addressing the violence against women, and the government and NPOs should keep educating males to respect…
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John in Indonesia writes:
live in harmony in our family, no violence at all, positive thinking, hoping that our neighbour will see and copy us.
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May 24: Secretary Clinton and Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Posner will release the 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices at 10:30 a.m. more »
May 23: The State Department, through its office of the U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), is pleased to announce $1.5 million in funding to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to support open governance and political participation in the Middle East and North Africa. more »
![Kapilaben Vankar at the GSMA mWomen Program, Washington, DC, Oct. 7, 2010. [State Dept /Public]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2010_1018_sewa_m.jpg)
![An Afghan refugee girl poses for a photo in a refugee camp, Kabul, Afghanistan, April 29, 2010. [AP]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2010_0722_afghan_girl_m.jpg)
![Women pose for a photo in Cabaret, Haiti, July 10, 2008. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2010_0115_women_haiti_m.jpg)
