
Women in US lagging behind in human rights, UN experts report - nkurz
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52797
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marcoperaza
Haha, these people again? The members of the UN Human Rights Council are like
a who's who of oppressive or failed states.

Members include: China, Russia, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bolivia, the Congo,
Venezuela, Ecuador, the UAE, and Kyrgyzstan.

When they're not attacking Israel (which is a permanent agenda item at every
single meeting) or hosting Hamas politicians, they're advocating for the
prohibition of "defamation of religion", which is code for prohibiting
criticism of Islam.

~~~
HillRat
UNHRC isn't OHCHR. The former is more like HFAC, the latter more like a State
working group -- in other words, politicians vs professionals.

~~~
marcoperaza
Edit: I originally acknowledged my mistake, but upon closer inspection, I was
actually not mistaken. This Working Group was commissioned and appointed by
the Human Rights Council, the one with zero credibility.
[http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?Ne...](http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16872&LangID=E)
(see the italic bit near the end).

Other half of original reply because it's still relevant:

Nonetheless, I'm suspicious of a report that cites flawed statistics, such as
a gender wage gap of 79 cents on the dollar, as evidence of discrimination and
denial of rights. See my comment and sources here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10785515](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10785515)
. Equal rights does not mean equal outcomes because, even in the case of equal
ability and opportunity, people have different preferences. This report is
nonetheless equating those.

~~~
HillRat
I think those are totally valid objections -- the microeconomic research
remains equivocal on gender pay gap differences and, while I firmly believe
that American politics and policies regarding women's rights are marching
boldly backwards, I also think this is more than a bit of grandstanding (I
admire many UN professionals, but there are plenty of excitable activists
amongst their peers, though both professionals and rabble-rousers are
outweighed by the clock punchers. Bureaucracy, don't you ever change).

Also, the UN org chart looks like a bowl of spaghetti, so remembering who is
what and when is an absolute pain.

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vaadu
The UN can complain about US equal rights AFTER they have gotten equal rights
in Middle Eastern countries.

~~~
shoo
nonsense. all countries should be encouraged to move in a progressive
direction.

~~~
blisterpeanuts
They should focus their limited time and resources on the real problems of the
world and not on the alleged wage gap and "reproductive rights" in the U.S.

Women in many parts of the world are dealing with war, kidnapping, sexual
slavery and rape, total lack of rights, genital mutilation, lack of birth
control, lack of medical care, lack of adequate food on the dinner table.
Surely these are far more pressing issues than the First World problems that
Americans are dealing with.

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rrss1122
We don't need to sign a treaty for this...

