American Civil Liberties Union

Women's Rights:
The ACLU's Women's Rights Project was co-founded in 1972 by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Through litigation, community outreach, advocacy and public education, WRP empowers poor women, women of color and immigrant women who have been victimized by gender bias and face pervasive barriers to equality. Learn more about the WRP.


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Womens Rights : Human Rights : Press Releases view all

Abused Domestic Workers of Diplomats Seek Justice From International Commission (11/15/2007)
NEW YORK –Domestic workers who were exploited and abused in the U.S. by foreign diplomats petitioned an international commission today because U.S. domestic law denies them their rights and a way to seek justice.

Hearing Brings Modern-Day Slavery to Light, ACLU Urges State Department to Play Its Role in Stopping It (10/18/2007)
Washington, DC – Modern-day slavery exists in the shadows, but it is alive and well, said witnesses today at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the reauthorization of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. The American Civil Liberties Union is urging Congress to add new safeguards that prevent the abuse, exploitation and trafficking of domestic employees by foreign diplomats and to remove the shield of diplomatic immunity that prevents these victims from holding the diplomats accountable.

Top U.N. Body on Women’s Issues Must Address Rights of Incarcerated Girls, Says ACLU (03/06/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today called on the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women not to neglect the human rights of girls in government custody. According to the organization, incarcerated girls are particularly vulnerable and subject to violence, abuse and neglect. The priority theme of the 51st annual meeting of U.N. Commission on the Status Women, which meets this week in New York, is “the elimination of discrimination and violence against the girl child.”

ACLU Charges Kuwait Government and Diplomats With Abusing Domestic Workers (01/17/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today charged the country of Kuwait and a Kuwaiti diplomat and his wife with trafficking three women and forcing them to work as domestic employees and childcare workers against their will under slavery-like conditions.

ACLU and Public Health Groups Urge Appeals Court to Reject Bush Global AIDS Gag (12/21/2006)
WASHINGTON - The federal government is illegally restricting the ability of U.S. health organizations to end the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, charged the American Civil Liberties Union and more than 25 public health and human rights organizations in a legal brief filed today.

Womens Rights : Human Rights : Publications

Custody and Control: Conditions of Confinement in New York’s Juvenile Prisons for Girls (09/25/2006)

The Forgotton Population: A Look at Death Row in the United States Through the Experiences of Women (01/20/2005)
Access the full report here.

Women's Rights in Theory and Practice: Employment, Violence, and Poverty (05/21/2002)

Womens Rights : Human Rights : Legal Documents view all

Sabbithi, et al. v. Al Saleh, et al. - Letter from Judge Sullivan to State Department (03/20/2008)
On March 20, 2008 Judge Emmet Sullivan wrote to the State Department with regard to the lawsuit pending in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Sabbithi, et al. v. Al Saleh, et al., requesting that the State Department take a position on the ACLU's argument that trafficking constitutes a commercial activity. Judge Sullivan noted that this case presents a different legal challenge to diplomatic immunity than presented in previous cases. In light of his letter to the State Department, the judge also denied the diplomats’ motion to dismiss the case on the basis of diplomatic immunity.

Sabbithi, et al. v. Al Saleh, et al.: Plaintiffs' Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss (05/30/2007)

Jessica Ruth Gonzales v. The United States of America: Observations Concerning the March 2, 2007 Hearing Before the Commission (05/14/2007)

Gonzalez Paredes v. Vila - Amicus Brief in Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Quash Service of Process and Dismiss Complaint (01/26/2007)

Sabbithi, et al. v. Al Saleh, et al.: Complaint and Jury Demand (01/17/2007)
Complaint in Sabbithi, et al. v. Al Saleh, et al.

Womens Rights : Human Rights : Legislative Documents

U.N. Housing Consultation Testimony (10/05/2005)
Written testimony of the ACLU before the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, North American Consultation on Women and Housing

Written Statement in Support of the New York City Human Rights Government Audit Law (GOAL) (04/13/2005)
Written Statement in Support of the New York City Human Rights Government Audit Law (GOAL) Int. No. 512

ACLU Written Statement in Support of the New York City Human Rights Government Audit Law (GOAL) (04/07/2005)

Womens Rights : Human Rights : Resources

Sabbithi v. Al Saleh Client Profiles (11/13/2007)

Jessica Gonzales' Statement Before the IACHR (03/02/2007)

Petition Alleging Violations of the Human Rights of Jessica Gonzales (12/30/2005)

Womens Rights : Human Rights : Fact Sheets

Human Trafficking: Modern Enslavement of Immigrant Women in the United States (05/31/2007)

Human Trafficking: Modern Enslavement of Immigrant Women in the United States (PDF) (05/31/2007)
Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery. It is an extreme form of labor exploitation where women, men and children are recruited or obtained and then forced to labor against their will through force, fraud or coercion. Trafficking victims are often lured by false promises of decent jobs and better lives. The inequalities women face in status and opportunity worldwide make women particularly vulnerable to trafficking.

Trapped in the Home: Global Trafficking and Exploitation of Migrant Domestic Workers (01/17/2007)
According to the UN, 12.3 million people are being held in conditions of forced labor and/or servitude at any one time. Eighty percent of these victims are women and girls.

Trafficking and Exploitation of Migrant Domestic Workers by Diplomats and Staff of International Organizations in the United States (01/17/2007)
Millions of people are employed as domestic workers in American homes. Yet, while domestic workers care for America's homes and families, employers frequently subject migrant women workers to illegal and abusive working conditions.

Womens Rights : Human Rights : Court Cases

Case Profile - Sabbithi, et al. v. Al Saleh, et al. (01/17/2007)
The suit charges the country of Kuwait and a Kuwaiti diplomat and his wife with trafficking three women and forcing them to work as domestic employees and childcare workers against their will under slavery-like conditions.

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