you can speak up for holaria pastory and take a stand for women...

i'm blogging about this again because it strikes me as important...and it's a story about how you and i - we - are linked to our brothers and in this case sisters around the world...

imagine that the story begins with this factual assertion - you are a second class citizen...

you are a female prohibited from selling land, that you rightfully own, without the approval of a male...

that is the situation that holaria pastory, an aging widow in tanzania, finds herself in when she is no longer able to work her land and attempts to sell it...despite the fact that she has inherited the land from her father, pastory's nephew, bernardo ephraim, is attempting to block the sale...because pastory is female, phraim points out, she is prohibited by haya customary law from selling clan land...

this might have been the end of the story were it not for the treaty for the rights of women (and this is why we need you to speak with your senators about this important treaty!)...holaria pastory stood up for her rights, and filed a lawsuit in which she argued that customary law was discriminatory toward women and thus violated the tanzanian constitution's bill of rights...she cited the country's ratification of the treaty for the rights of women as evidence of tanzania's commitment to women's rights standards upheld in international law...the court agreed and ruled in holaria's favor!

women and men across the globe have used this treaty to help stop discrimination and violence...while the treaty does not impose laws on governments, it does require governments to examine their policies and practices in relation to women and girls and these reviews have led governments to make reforms--curbing sexual trafficking, improving literacy rates, combating domestic violence...the list is long...there is a problem though, and that's why we need your help...

the u.s. government has failed to ratify the treaty for the rights of women, and the fact that the u.s. has failed to ratify undermines the ability of women in other countries to use this international instrument to combat discrimination and violence against women and girls...across the u.s., individuals like you will be meeting with their senators from sept 24-28, to ask for their support for this treaty, and already more than 40 meetings are being scheduled in 17 states across the country...

sign up today to learn more about this important treaty and to speak with your u.s. senators on behalf of women....amnesty international will provide the resources, background, and training for you to meet effectively with your senators' office...

there are many more holaria pastory's in the world and you are in a position to help...

peace out <3>