BILL REQ. #:  S-0203.2 

Read first time 01/24/2003.   Referred to Committee on Judiciary.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO COLIN L. POWELL, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 18, 1979, became an international treaty on September 3, 1981, and by May 2001, one hundred sixty-eight nations including all of the industrialized world, except the United States, have agreed to be bound by the Convention's provisions; and
     WHEREAS, The United States supports and has a position of leadership in the United Nations, was an active participant in the drafting of the Convention, and is a signatory to the Convention; and
     WHEREAS, The spirit of the Convention is rooted in the goals of the United Nations and the United States, to affirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, and in the equal rights of men and women; and
     WHEREAS, The Convention provides a comprehensive framework for challenging the various forces that have created and sustained discrimination based on sex against half the world's population and the nations in support of the present Convention have agreed to follow Convention prescriptions; and
     WHEREAS, Although women have made major gains in the struggle for equality in social, business, political, legal, education, and other fields in the past century, there is much yet to be accomplished and through its support, leadership, and prestige, the United States can help create a world where women are no longer discriminated against and have achieved one of the most fundamental of human rights, equality;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that President Bush and Secretary of State Powell place the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in the highest category of priority in order to accelerate the treaty's passage through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the full United States Senate with the goal of ratification by the United States; and that the Washington State Legislature exhort the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to pass this treaty favorably out of Committee and urge it be approved by the full Senate.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, Colin L. Powell, United States Secretary of State, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.