Knight Ridder-Tribune
The Dallas Morning News
Women have been called the
canaries in a coal mine.
How they are treated is a good
indication of how toxic a society is.
Think Afghanistan. Think how
women’s repression, economic
stagnation and terrorism are linked
in countries around the world. Then
know that the United States and the
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international community must
more actively support the rights of
women.
In Myanmar, also known as
Burma, when military rulers
released Nobel Prize winning
activist Aung San Suu Kyi from
house arrest last year, human rights
flourished like day lilies — they
were dead after a day. The State
Department recently confirmed the
military has been using systematic
rape as a way to control ethnic
minorities in Myanmar, one of the
biggest narcotics producers.
Some Burmese women attend-ing
the current meetings of the
U.N. Commission on the Status of
Women have said that even a little
foreign attention to their country
gets a large response. The State
Department must press Myanmar
harder on rights issues. And the
United Nations must investigate
rape reports and push for timely
redress.
An international treaty, the
Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women, asks countries to
work toward women’s equality in
areas from education to employ-ment.
Ninety percent of U.N. mem-bers
joined. The United States
signed but never ratified the treaty.
A Senate panel recommended rati-fication
last year, but the full Senate
never acted. It’s up to Senate
Foreign Relations Committee
Chairman Richard Lugar, R-Ind.,
to take it up again. Tell the Senate
to support the treaty and thereby
indicate America’s commitment to
women’s rights.
Meanwhile, watch the canaries.
Unless women’s rights get more
attention all year, little progress will
be made.
