September 23, in a resolution signed by all twenty female senators, countries across the globe with female political prisoners were urged to release them immediately.
According to The Hill, "Senator Kelly Ayotte introduced the resolution co-sponsored by the rest of the women in the Senate supporting U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power’s #FreeThe20 campaign and preceding a United Nations conference on gender equality.”
FreeThe20 was launched by the U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power on August 31, 2015 featuring twenty female political prisoners for each year that passed since the Beijing Declaration when ambitious roadmap was set to empower women, advance gender equality and promote women and girls’ human rights.
“In naming these women we are sending a simple message to their governments and others like them: if you want to empower women, stop imprisoning them”, said Power.
Among the twenty prisoners are Leyla Yunus and Khadija Ismayilova from Azerbaijan.
The resolution adopted yesterday, highlights the cases of unjustly imprisoned women.
"As 20 women serving in the United States Senate we stand unified in calling on governments to recognize the universal human rights of women and to release women who have been imprisoned unjustly for exercising those rights,” the senators said in a press release. “Our message is simple — world leaders and foreign governments, including those attending the U.N.-hosted meeting this month, should empower women, not imprison them."