The United States remains one of only seven countries that have not ratified CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women).  CEDAW is an international agreement on basic human rights for women and the most broadly endorsed human rights treaty within the United Nations, having been ratified by over 90% of UN member states. CEDAW outlines human rights such as the right to live free from violence, the ability to go to school, and access to the political system. It is clear that CEDAW is working in countries such as Australia, South Africa and Uganda who have incorporated CEDAW provisions into their constitution and domestic legal codes, and Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan, who have seen increased literacy rates amongst women in their countries after ratifying CEDAW. And yet, CEDAW has failed to make progress in the United States. Despite the fact that CEDAW was adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly and has been voted on favorably twice since then on a bipartisan basis by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, CEDAW has never been brought to the Senate floor for a vote. It is time to act, as our window of opportunity is rapidly closing.

In the spirit of action, the CEDAW Task Force of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, co-sponsored by Citizens for Global Solutions, the National Women’s Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the YWCA , has declared this week a Week of Action on CEDAW to push for ratification. In its call for action, the Task Force released the following statement:

Time and time again President Obama has declared his support for women worldwide and announced that the ratification of the CEDAW Treaty was an important priority. Now we need him to show leadership in advancing women and girls’ rights around the world. As women and men who believe in the basic rights of women and girls worldwide – the right to live free from violence, the ability to go to school, and access to the political system – we need President Obama to send a strong and urgent signal to the Senate that ratification of CEDAW is vital.

Read more here.

Clarification:  An alert reader pointed out that U.S. ratification of CEDAW is actually complicated by the fact that over the years, assorted reservations have been added to the U.S. version of the treaty which would have the effect of potentially being more damaging than not ratifying at all.  As I’ve said before, FPN’s and my personal support is  for ratification without the addition of any reservations.  For a better understanding of this issue, read Janet Benshoof’s analysis here.

After being convicted on questionable evidence, Jamie Scott and her sister Gladys received two consecutive life sentences apiece for a 1993 armed robbery in which no one was hurt and the take was $11. As we wrote back in March, this unwarranted life sentence is at risk of becoming a death sentence for Jamie Scott, who is gravely ill, due to the care she is receiving at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF) in Pearl. Since we first covered the story, Jamie’s condition has, if anything, grown still more critical.

Now 38, Jamie has been diagnosed with end-stage renal disease, and requires dialysis to stay alive. Rather than let her leave for dialysis, the prison brought in a machine that according to Jamie broke down periodically. She has had one complication after another, including multiple infections at the site of her dialysis shunt. She has been rushed to the hospital several times, only to be promptly returned to prison the moment her condition is deemed “stabilized.” According to her mother, Evelyn Rasco, Jamie’s most recent hospital visit took place when her veins collapsed and she was unable to walk. This time, according to Rasco, the doctor at the hospital said he refused to allow his patient to go back to prison because she would surely die there. But the Mississippi Department of Corrections had its way, and back she went.

In the following letter, written a few weeks ago, Jamie Scott says, “I have witness many inmates die at the hands of this second rate medical care. I do not want to be one of them.” The letter was provided to Solitary Watch by Nancy Lockhart, a paralegal who works with the wrongfully convicted, and has been advocating for Scott for some time.

The living condition in quickbed area is not fit for any human to live in. I have been incarcerated for 15 years 6 months now and this is the worst I have ever experience. When it rain out side it rain inside. The zone flood like a river. The rain comes down on our heads and we have to try to get sheets and blankets to try to stop it from wetting our beds and personnel property. Because the floors are concrete and it have paint on it, it makes it very slippery when it rain and there have been numerous of inmates that have broke their arms and hurt there self do to this.

Above our heads there are rows and rows of spiders as if we live in the jungle. There are inmates that have holds in there bodies left from spider bites, because once they are bitten it take forever to get to the clinic for any help. There are mold in the bathroom ceiling and around the walls and toilets. The toilets leak sewage from under them and they have the inmate men to come in and patch them up occasionally. The smell is awful. The showers are two circular poles with five shower heads on each pole. The floor in the shower is also concrete and slippery. There is nothing to hold on to when you exit the shower so there have been many inmates that have hurt there self in the process. Outside the building there is debirs where the unit is falling apart.

Each day we are force to live in these conditions. The staph infection is so high and we are force to wave in toilet and sewage water when we have to go to the bathroom. I have witness many inmates die at the hands of this second rate medical care. I do not want to be one of them.

When this is brought to the health department or anyone attention. The MDOC tries to get the inmate to try to pamper it up so if someone comes in it want look as bad as the inmates said it did. I am fully aware that we are in prison, but no one should have to live in such harsh condition. I am paranoid of catching anything because of what I have been going throw with my medical condition.

We are living in these harsh conditions, but if you go to the administration offices, they are nice and clean and smell nice because they make sure the inmates clean their offices each day. They tell us to clean the walls. Cleaning the walls will not help anything. Cleaning the walls will not stop the rain from pouring in. it will not stop the mold from growing inside the walls and around us. It will not stop the spiders from mating.

They have 116 inmates on each wing, and we live not five feet from each other in order to pack us in. We have the blowers on the ceiling and if the inmates are acting crazy or the staff come in mad they use the blowers as a form of punishment. The taxes payers really are lead to believe we are been rehabilitated. That is a joke. All we do is sit in this infected unit and build up more hate. Rehabilitated starts within you. If you want to change you will change.

One thing about MDOC, they know how to fix the paper work up to make it seen as if they are doing their job. You can get more drugs and anything else right here. I have witness a lot in my time here.

Do I sound angry, I am not I am hurt and sick. Because they have allowed my kidney to progress to stage five which been the highest. They told me years ago I had protein in my urine, but I went years without any help. Now, it seen the eyes are on me because my family are on their case. Every inmate is not without family. Yes, you do have many inmates that family have giving up on, but my sister and I are not them.

I do not want special attention, I want to treat, and to live how the state says on paper we are living. The same way when it is time for the big inspection we are promised certain food if we please clean up to pass this inspection. So I beg of anyone to please understand Mississippi Department of Correction is a joke. They will let you die or even kill yourself. We are told when visitors come into the prison do not talk to them. Well I have the right to talk to anyone and if the health department or anyone comes I will talk to him or her, because this is my life and I should or anyone else should be force to live like this.

They use unlawful punishments to try to shut us up. I need help. I need a inmate to help me, but for some reason they will not allow me to move with my sister, so she can help me. There are mother and daughter, aunties, and nieces housed together and also there are a total of 12 inmates acting as orally for others inmates. I have all the names of the inmates acting as a orally if need to be giving. However, the subject of my sister is been danced around. A form of discrimination. My sister [Gladys Scott] and I were housed together for over ten years and not once have we ever caused any problem. We were split up because in 2003 the Commissioner came with the order to separate all family members. Because its payback because my family is holding them accountable to do what they are paid to do. Also, do to the fact Mr. [Rip] Daniels on It’s a New Day [talk radio show] & Grassroots are keeping the supports inform that is been pointed out to me in a negative way.

Now that I am sitting everyday because of my sickness I have time to use my typewriter. MDOC have gotten away with to much. In addition, some of the things that go on here I truly believe that Mr. Epps [Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections] do not know.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS ARTICLE TO MEDIA OUTLETS!!!
—————–

Please continue to advocate on behalf of Jamie and Gladys Scott, their children and families need for them to return home alive, the time is NOW!

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
HOTLINE: 202-353-1555
PHONE: 202-514-2000
202-307-6777 fax
AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

Christopher Epps
601-359-5600
CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS 39202

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

Thomson Reuters involvement with the IWD site extends to the provision of news feeds which contain gender relevant content around a number of themes including science and innovation, justice, health and business and finance.  Hence our partnership is more refined than simply posting irrelevant Reuters news stories onto the site.

I thought a look at their International Women’s Day Business and Finance page might be useful in illustrating what a total crock that is.  Here is a screenshot taken on 1/27/10:

Stocks edge lower, new home sales fall, Geithner takes the hot seat and Berkshire shares surge…this is gender relevant how?  Please feel free to write to Ms. Fuller and ask her directly, julia.fuller@thomsonreuters.com.  You might also inquire about the change in identity on Twitter–they’ve changed the InternationalWomensDay.com user name from Reuters_Women to Women_on_IWD, but their  bio description still reads,

Thomson Reuters is global partner to the Aurora International Women’s Day website. Tweet back.

In other words, it is still a Thomson Reuters gig, but it isn’t as obvious unless you click on their profile.  While we are delighted that that Thomson Reuters is supportive of International Women’s Day, saying that their website, which is clearly designed in part to drive traffic to unrelated Reuters content, is The International Women’s Day website in their metatags is presumptuous, erroneous and unacceptable and the Feminist Peace Network continues to call for a boycott of the InternationalWomensDay.com website.

While women’s groups throughout the U.S. are focusing on the abortion issue, it is important to remember that this is not the only aspect of women’s health that is in jeopardy.  The National Partnership for Women and Families has prepared an excellent brief about the proposed wellness provisions that could effectively become a backdoor for rate discrimination against lower income women who are not able to participate in these programs because:

A disproportionate number of women head low-income families and are unable to pursue daily exercise programs when faced with significant caregiver responsibilities at home;

A disproportionate number of women are in low-income families and are unable to access safe areas for physical activity or affordable healthy food choices; and

Many of the most vulnerable women and children who would benefit greatly from assistance in living healthier lives are ill-prepared to sustain the added financial burden that arises from paying significantly more for health insurance under the current “20 percent” standard.

They conclude:

There is no doubt that women want their families and themselves to be healthy.  Every day, women are leading the charge for improving health across the country.  But what women also need is support to achieve healthy lifestyles — not a policy that allows their employer to discriminate against them based on their health status (or a family member’s health status).  This kind of policy undermines the very goals of health reform.  Instead, employers should be encouraged to provide wellness incentives that treat women equitably and respect the challenges they face in meeting the dual demands of work and family.

Gwendolyn Mink and Dorothy Roberts also point to concerns regarding nurse home visitation programs aimed at low-income pregnant women and mothers of young children, saying they are,

concerned that the provision is not aimed at providing health care. Instead, it pledges to advance goals that endanger the reproductive and family freedoms of low income women, conjures stereotypes of low income women of color, and implies that using available public services is a bad thing. The Senate bill contains a similar provision.

They go on to say that,

It is imperative that a government-sponsored home visitation program for low-income women amply and explicitly protects program clients.  Express stipulations to assure that participation is voluntary must be part of the statutory package, along with a guarantee that a decision to participate, or not to, cannot be made a condition of receiving other government assistance.  The aim of nurse home visitation programs should be to provide medical and wellness services;  neither the statutory language nor administrative regulations should permit or encourage monitoring the family and reproductive decisions of individuals, and neither should denigrate low-income mothers for using public assistance.  We should do everything possible to ensure that these programs support the women they are intended to serve rather than using women to advance the interests of government.

Whatever action you decide to take today, be sure make clear that women’s health care  must include not only access to affordable, safe and legal abortion, but also to full reproductive health care and affordable, non-discriminatory overall health care.

__________

Many thanks to Adele Stan for drawing our attention to the wellness program issue.

Commit • Act • Demand: We CAN End Violence Against Women!

Numerous organizations throughout the world are participating in and supporting the 16 Days observance.  You can read  more about the many inspiring campaigns here:

• Voices Against Violence in Puerto Rico via Global Voices
• The Nobel Women’s Initiative:  Commit, Act, Demand
• From Bitch Magazine:  On the Map: Women Around the Globe Say ‘No’ To Gender-based Violence
• Women’s ENews: 16 Days to End Violence; Afghan Schools Threatened
• Women of Uganda Network: Public Dialogue to mark 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence