Homelessness Law Blog

Before joining the Law Center, I provided legal assistance and representation to low-income individuals fleeing domestic violence.  I helped them obtain protective orders against their abusers, win financial support for their mutual children, and fight for child custody when necessary.

Finding housing – even temporary housing – was the first concern of most of my clients.  It was typically the biggest hurdle too.  Most clients just didn’t have the financial resources.  This reality was compounded by the fact that most domestic violence and homeless shelters are perpetually full – and there’s a dearth of shelters that are able to accommodate children too.

These experiences lingered in my mind this month when Rashida Manjoo, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, carried out her two-week fact-finding mission to the United States.  (more…)

Today, Senator Dick Durbin, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, held the first hearing in eight years on the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, or the Women’s Rights Treaty), and the first ever in the Judiciary Committee, as opposed to the Foreign Relations Committee.  Equally importantly, governmental testimony was offered not just by the State Department, but also by the Justice Department, discussing the importance of ensuring women’s rights not only abroad, but here at home.  These are important steps in emphasizing that ensuring human rights is about leading by example at home as much as taking strong positions abroad.

Much of the hearing was devoted to the importance of the latter – and indeed, the impact of ratification of the treaty on our ability to lead abroad on human rights should not be underestimated.  Unfortunately, the testimony from both Senator Durbin and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Samuel Bagenstos gave too much away on the domestic impact of the treaty.  Senator Durbin said, “we don’t need CEDAW to protect women here,” and AAG Bagenstos emphasized that the package of Reservations, Understandings, and Declarations submitted with the treaty for ratification would ensure no American law would have to be modified, and the recommendations of the CEDAW Committee would not bind us.

We do need CEDAW to help protect women in the U.S.  (more…)