Rewire.News: Trump Administration Fails to Roll Back Support for Landmark Women’s Rights Agreement at United Nations
“…According to draft documents acquired by The Guardian, the U.S. delegation came into this week’s [U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)] meetings intending to ‘water down’ commitments to the health and well-being of women and girls as well as remove the word ‘gender’ from the commission’s documents. At issue is the 1995 Beijing declaration and platform for action, a landmark blueprint outlining priorities for the global empowerment of women and girls, including protection from gender-based violence and access to basic reproductive health care. While the agreement is non-binding, advocates often use it to pressure governments into loosening restrictions on women’s lives. Tarah Demant, director of Amnesty International’s gender, sexuality, and identity program told Rewire.News that U.S.-led efforts to undercut support for the Beijing declaration failed late Monday. ‘We are deeply troubled by the attempts of the U.S. delegation to the U.N. to change the language of commitment to the Beijing Platform for Action from “reaffirm” to “make note of,”‘ Demant said in a statement to Rewire.News…” (Burns, 3/19).