WEAVING THE CONNECTIONS

Almost a decade ago, I worked with pink dolphins on the Amazon River in Peru—a difficult but rewarding experience. This February my husband and I traveled on the part of the Amazon that flows through Brazil. It was with great anticipation that I undertook this trip—the Amazon calls to me like the song of the Siren. As our plane approached the river, the dense cloud cover that had been there during our entire time across South America suddenly lifted and we flew over her length for miles and miles. Welcome back, she seemed to say.

While many diverse Indigenous peoples have lived—and some still do—along the Amazon for hundreds of years, the name by which the river has been known to the Western world came about as the result of exploration by a Spanish conquistador, Francisco de Orellana (1500?-1545). After his first expedition of the river and following his return to Spain, he told a story about his encounter along the river with a group of mighty female warriors, a story that led to the naming of the river as the Amazon. Today, we could view the name as aptly chosen because, while there is now a dispute as to whether the Nile or the Amazon is the longest river on Earth (scientists measuring the river from its source in the Peruvian Andes, approximately 100 miles from the Pacific Ocean, to its mouth in the Atlantic, have made the claim that the Amazon exceeds the Nile in length), there is no dispute as to the fact that the Amazon carries the greatest volume of water, said to be greater than that of the next 10 largest rivers combined. This volume of water is made possible by a drainage basin that covers 40% of the South American continent, including parts of Peru, Columbia, Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Guyana. Where the waters originating in the Andes meet the waters from the rain forest, they flow, with their diverse colors and composition, side by side for miles before they mingle. When the Amazon finally reaches its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean, the volume of water entering the ocean is such that it is visible and potable for up to 50 miles!

It was not at its mouth, but in Manaus, Brazil, a city a thousand miles upstream and carved out of the heart of the rain forest, that we began our journey. In the nineteenth century, the utility of the native rubber trees found near Manaus was discovered and, for a brief time, this product enabled Manaus to become the wealthiest city in the world. An example of this excessive wealth was the rubber barons sending their clothes home to Europe to be laundered. However, the indigenous population, the basis for this luxury, did not fare as well. They were enslaved and, if they did not produce their stipulated quota from the rubber trees, were tortured and in many cases, murdered. The “glory days” of Manaus ended when a British visitor smuggled seeds, taken under the pretext of orchid exportation, to the Malay peninsula, where rubber plantations in time thrived.

Further down the Amazon, in Santarem, I was scheduled to visit the rain forest to view the different stages of the region’s slash and burn method of agriculture and its impact on the environment. However, at the last moment the expedition was cancelled—the conditions were too wet—in the rain forest! (Currently, Brazil is under serious criticism for its failure to honor its commitments to the rain forest).

Recently, I shared my Amazon experience with a missionary friend who once lived there. He said that he did not enjoy the experience as he found the power of the Amazon to be too primeval. In contrast, I think that is precisely why it appealed so much to me. I think the Amazon is an example of the power of Earth itself, which we must tap into if we are to heal ourselves and the very Earth and its eco-systems.

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CEDAW

               (The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women)

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, is often described as an international bill of rights for women.  Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it refines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination.

At a special ceremony that took place at the Copenhagen Conference in July 1980, 64 States signed the Convention and two States submitted their instruments of ratification. The Convention entered into force faster than any previous human rights convention had done—thus bringing to a climax United Nations efforts to codify comprehensive, international legal standards for women. Today 185 countries are party to the Convention, and even though United States President Carter signed it at the time, it wasn’t ratified by the U. S. Senate. Most recently the Convention was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2002, but no floor vote was taken. Currently, President-elect Obama has promised to present the treaty to the Senate for ratification. In addition, action has been taken across the United States. Resolutions supporting the ratification of CEDAW have passed in 47 cities, as well as in 17 states and 19 counties.

CEDAW, the Convention, calls on governments to enforce these key provisions:

·          Acknowledge women’s contributions to society

·          Recognize the common responsibility of men and women in the upbringing of children

·          Suppress forced prostitution and the trafficking of women

·          Grant women equal access to credit and loans

·          Modify traditions when necessary, for example, marital status should not abridge a woman’s rights to child custody or to her own nationality

·          Ensure women equal rights to conclude contracts and administer property

·          Guarantee the freedom to choose one’s residence and domicile

·          Ensure the right to promotion, job security and all job benefits including maternity leave

·          Guarantee equal rights in education

·          Ensure women’s eligibility for election to public bodies

·          Provide access to health care information and services

·          Guarantee the right to decide freely on the number and spacing of one’s children

      Ratification of  CEDAW could help to advance political and economic equality for women in the U. S. as women in this country have not yet achieved full equality. Moreover, ratification of  CEDAW is essential if the U. S. is to continue to be seen as a global leader in human rights.

 Taken from “Universal Human Rights: Dignity and Justice for All of Us” featuring “Women’s Rights are Human Rights: a Guide” by Elizabeth Fisher and Robert Fisher. For further valuable information, please contact the authors at: erfisher@LMI.net

Editor's comment: While some of the  provisions of CEDAW are in the process of being implemented in the U.S., there is still a way to go.