The Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights: Where Next After Vienna?

Taking the 1993 United Nations World Conference on Human Rights (the "Vienna Conference") as her starting point, the author notes that the women's rights movment has successfully exposed women's issues as separate concerns but is still struggling to show how women and gender issues pervade all aspects of human rights. The process of documenting and interpreting the meaning of violence against women is another step. In this short note, the author suggests areas which need attention in the field of women's international human rights. Challenges include promoting the concept that States share the responsibility to deal with women's human rights issues, pressuring the United States to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), dealing with limited resources, and integrating women throughout human rights theory and practice. Finally, the author argues that human rights must be brought home and applied domestically.