Human Rights and Women's Rights

The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.

Human Rights issue image

What's at Stake

The ACLU Human Rights Project (HRP) uses human rights standards and strategies to complement existing ACLU legal and legislative advocacy as well as advance social justice in the area of women’s rights.

International human rights law, including treaties and customary international law, protects the rights of women and girls. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 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 and girls, with a special focus on low-wage immigrant women workers. We also address gender-based violence and trafficking by incorporating human rights standards into litigation and state and federal legislative advocacy, and by engaging with the United States before the United Nations and regional human rights bodies.

The ACLU Human Rights Project (HRP) uses human rights standards and strategies to complement existing ACLU legal and legislative advocacy as well as advance social justice in the area of women’s rights.

International human rights law, including treaties and customary international law, protects the rights of women and girls. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 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 and girls, with a special focus on low-wage immigrant women workers. We also address gender-based violence and trafficking by incorporating human rights standards into litigation and state and federal legislative advocacy, and by engaging with the United States before the United Nations and regional human rights bodies.

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