Women's Rights and the Human Rights Program

Key Human Rights Treaties ·         Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women ·         Convention on the Rights of the Child ·         International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. ·         American Convention on Human Rights ·         Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women

HRP uses human rights standards and strategies to complement existing ACLU legal and legislative advocacy and to advance social justice in the area of women's rights.

International human rights law, including treaties and customary international law, protect the rights of women and girls. For example, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; the Convention on the Rights of the Child ; and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights all recognize the rights of women and girls and guarantee their equality, protection and individual dignity. Many of the rights recognized in these treaties are more protective than their domestic counterparts yet, to date, the United States has failed to ratify them..

Working together with the ACLU Women's Rights Project, HRP works to promote and protect the rights of women, girls and low-wage immigrant women workers and to address gender-based violence and trafficking by:

• incorporating human rights standards in litigation and state and federal legislative advocacy; and • engaging with the United States before U.N. and regional human rights fora.