Meg's update: March 5th:Engaging President Obama

This side-event's theme was, "Engaging with the Obvama Administration to Advance the Human Rights of Women in the United States." The panel speakers were looking at the president's stimulus package and noted, what they saw as omissions. Betsy Hawkings, Amnesty International, spoke of the absence of reproductive rights for women not given attention in the package. Malika Saada Saar, Director of the Rebecca Project for Human Rights, said there was no gender analysis in the plan. She highlighted the severe violence that exists in our prisons with no corrective measures taken. She saw the immediate need for an evaluation of our juvenile criminal justice system. Sarah Paoletti, Director of the Univ. of Pennsylvania Law School, presented what she saw as most immediate - the integration of all human rights in trade policies, immigration reform, and prison reform. She criticized the Guest Program as having no protection for immigrants. Other speakers addressed the lack of respect given social workers in hospitals, caregivers of HIV/AIDS victims, and criticized the U.S. for not signing on to CRC.