News just in from our DA members of the DNC at a meeting in Austin, Texas:

The DNC just approved a series of resolutions on a number of different topics. Below is the resolution originally submitted by Caitlin Kraft Buchman in Switzerland. I'm sure you all join me in congratulating and thanking Caitlin for a job well done.

Resolution on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

WHEREAS, the Convention on the Elimination of All forms ofDiscrimination against Women (CEDAW) is an international bill of rights for women that prescribes the necessarysteps to end all forms of discrimination -political, economic, social, cultural or civic - against women; and

WHEREAS, CEDAW was drafted in 1979 with the active support of the United States and signed by President Carter in 1980; and

WHEREAS, CEDAW was reported out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2002 but was not examined by the Bush administration; and

WHEREAS, CEDAW has become the law in 185 countries including all of the Western democracies except the United States, leaving Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Qatar, Nauru, Palau, Tonga and the United States as the only countries in the world not having ratified this fundamental human rights treaty; and

WHEREAS, there are 71 million women in the workforce of the United States and although equal pay for equal work has been the law of our country since 1963, full-time year-roundwomen workers still earn on the average only 78 per cent of what men earn for equal work; and

WHEREAS, the Democratic Party supports parity, fairness and equal opportunity for all and believes in a society in which women's equal rights are guaranteed; and

WHEREAS, the 111th Congress and President Obama demonstrated their commitment to parity by enacting the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009; and

WHEREAS, American women living abroad in the 185 countries having ratified CEDAW enjoy the protection afforded by CEDAW; and

WHEREAS, the United States has to regain its place as an international human rights leader;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic National Committee urges the US Senate to ratify CEDAW without delay.