SECRETARY OF STATE FORUM--Abigail Disney on HRC’s Projected Ascent

December 2, 2008 posted by admin "Senator Clinton's accession to Secretary of State will be an unprecedented opportunity for women at long last to take their rightful place shoulder-to-shoulder in the  international community as leaders, as peers, and as beings whose human rights are as important, valued and 'inalienable' as those of men.  Too long the human rights community has dismissed women's rights as important, but not  'human rights' and therefore not important enough to be addressed by their gigantic and well-funded organizations.  This blind spot has been more than a small difference of interpretation of the idea of 'rights.'  It has provided cover for the UN Security Council to consistently duck some of the greatest barbarities of our time, from the rape camps of Bosnia to the mass displacement of populations in Darfur, and it has created a political and economic ghetto from which women activists (along with some admirable male exceptions) struggle to be heard, to be seen, and to be valued as equals—often without success.  The international community has made some great progress on paper toward addressing the increasing violence against women in conflict and in peace time, particularly with UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820. Now it is Hillary's moment to turn these paper victories not only into meaningful improvements in the life conditions of women around the world, but perhaps even into the paradigmatic shifts in governance they could well bring about.  Go Hillary!!!"

--Abigail Disney, Founder and President of the Daphne Foundation This post is part of a forum