PRINTER'S NO. 2010
No. 199 Session of 1998
INTRODUCED BY SCHWARTZ, KUKOVICH, AFFLERBACH, BODACK, COSTA,
STOUT, WOZNIAK, RHOADES, BELAN, FUMO AND MELLOW, MAY 20, 1998
REFERRED TO INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, MAY 20, 1998
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
1 Memorializing the President of the United States to support and
2 the Senate of the United States to ratify the United Nations
3 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
4 Against Women.
5 WHEREAS, The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
6 Discrimination Against Women was adopted by the United Nations
7 General Assembly on December 18, 1979, and became an
8 international treaty on September 3, 1981, and currently, 161
9 nations, including all of the industrialized world except the
10 United States, have agreed to be bound by the Convention's
11 provisions; and
12 WHEREAS, The United States supports and has a position of
13 leadership in the United Nations as an active participant in the
14 drafting and a signatory to the Convention; and
15 WHEREAS, The spirit of the Convention is rooted in the goals
16 of the United Nations and the United States, to affirm faith in
17 fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human
18 person and in the equal rights of men and women; and
19 WHEREAS, The Convention provides a comprehensive framework
1 for challenging the various forces that have created and
2 sustained discrimination based on sex against half the world's
3 population, and the nations in support of the present Convention
4 have agreed to follow Convention prescriptions; and
5 WHEREAS, Although women have made major gains in the struggle
6 for equality in social, business, political, legal, educational
7 and other fields in this century, there is much yet to be
8 accomplished, and through its support, leadership and prestige,
9 the United States can help create a world where women are no
10 longer discriminated against and can achieve one of the most
11 fundamental of human rights, equality; therefore be it
12 RESOLVED (the House of Representatives concurring), That the
13 General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania memorialize
14 the President of the United States and the Secretary of State to
15 place the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All
16 Forms of Discrimination Against Women in the highest category of
17 priority in order to accelerate this treaty's passage through
18 the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the
19 full Senate of the United States with the goal of United States
20 ratification; and be it further
21 RESOLVED, That the United States Senate Foreign Relations
22 Committee pass this treaty favorably out of committee; and be it
23 further
24 RESOLVED, That the Senate of the United States ratify the
25 United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
26 Discrimination Against Women and support the Convention's
27 continuing goals; and be it further
28 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
29 the President of the United States, the Secretary of State of
30 the United States, the presiding officers of each house of
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1 Congress, the Chair and members of the Senate Foreign Relations
2 Committee and to each member of Congress from Pennsylvania.
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