The Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, a landmark international treaty protecting the rights of women, has been ratified by 186 of the UN’s 192 members. The US remains the only industrialized democracy in the world that has not ratified it, leaving the US in the company of such nations as Iran, Somalia and Sudan, where violations of women’srights are rampant.

Although no legally binding agreement was reached at the UN Copenhagen Climate Summit in December 2009, the dialogue on moving forward with an accord, brokered by President Barack Obama at the last minute in Denmark, continues to be thrashed out.