Inter-American Commission of Women

The Inter-American Commission of Women (, , ), abbreviated CIM,|group="note"}} is an organization that falls within the Organization of American States. It was established in 1928 by the Sixth Pan-American Conference and is composed of one female representative from each Republic in the Union. In 1938, the CIM was made a permanent organization, with the goal of studying and addressing women's issues in the Americas.

CIM was the first intergovernmental organization designed specifically to address the civil and political needs of women, and in many ways has led the movement for international women's rights. In 1933, CIM became the first international organization to present a resolution for international suffrage for women, which was not ratified, as well as the first to submit a treaty which was adopted concerning women's rights. This treaty, the 1933 Convention on the Nationality of Women, established that marriage did not affect nationality. The women of the CIM submitted a resolution and attained the first international acknowledgement of women's political and civil rights (1938). They also researched and prepared the first-ever treaty on violence against women which was approved as the 1994 Belém do Pará Convention. By attaining international agreements, the delegates of the CIM are able to pressure change in their home countries to comply with those resolutions.

Since 1955, CIM has regularly reported to the United Nations on the status of women in the Americas and works to implement U.N. Conventions in the Western Hemisphere. Provided by Wikipedia