From: belmonte@MIT.EDU (Matthew Belmonte)
To: senator@kennedy.senate.gov, john_kerry@kerry.senate.gov
Subject: support ratification of UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 15:20:49 +0100

I hope that you'll support ratification of the United Nations Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).  Although the
United States was instrumental in framing CEDAW, since the unanimous adoption
of CEDAW by the UN General Assembly in 1979 the Senate has not brought
ratification to a vote.  While all other industrialised democracies have
adopted CEDAW, the United States remains among a group of holdouts, where it
finds itself in the company of nations such as Iran and Afghanistan.  Over 120
national organisations within the United States, as well as several state and
local governments, have called for the ratification of CEDAW.  I hope that the
Senate will at last bring this issue to the floor.

Matthew Belmonte
[address]