The Unites States Senate voted on December 4th on the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), falling just short of the two-thirds majority needed for the Senate to ratify an international treaty. important to note that the vast majority of Senators did indeed vote for ratification, proving just how close we are to achieving ascension to an international treaty. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) vowed to bring CRPD up for a vote again in the next year, saying, "Today, we had a chance to lead, and we failed because a small group of Republican senators fear the Tea Party more than they care about equality for people with disabilities." Senator Reid is not giving up on ratification of the Disabilities Treaty and neither are we! We pledge to follow this issue in 2013 and hold Senator Reid to his promise to make international disabilities rights a reality for all!
Thousands took action to make their voice heard on climate change this election cycle. We joined with several other organizations to deliver more than 160,000 petition signatures to first debate moderator, Jim Lehrer. While we didn't get a question on climate change into the debate, President Obama called for action on climate change, saying "we want our children to live in an America...that isn't threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet." We will continue to advocate for addressing climate change as a key second term agenda item.
Hundreds of people signed our birthday card for the International Criminal Court, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this past July. We also passed out information about the Court on the National Mall, raising awareness about international justice and the important work of the Court.
5,398 supporters called on the U.S. to support a stronger Arms Trade Treaty. The negotiations were held during the month of July 2012 and several other civil society groups helped raise awareness on the need for a stronger Arms Trade Treaty.
2,792 citizens called Valdimir Putin out, telling him he was on the wrong side of history by supporting Bashar Assad in Syria. International criticism against Russia continues to rise, shining a light onto Russia's own human rights violations.
Almost 3,000 of you called on the U.S. Government to stop selling arms to Bahrain and other human rights abusers worldwide. While the U.S. has not formally stopped sending weapons to Bahrain, we will not stop advocating for an end to this short-sighted policy.
More than 3,000 of you called on Obama to attend the Rio+20 Earth Summit last June. While Obama did not attend, he did send our chief diplomat, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The conference produced an outcome document that set timelines for future climate agreements, but the truly inspirational result of Rio+20 was the efforts of civil society groups and individuals to find creative solutions to global warming.
Our petition to save the Bahraini human rights activist received almost 20,000 signatures, which we deliver personally to AlKhawaja's daughters. Combined with our outreach efforts on social media and the work of other organizations, we were able to raise awareness and bring international attention to his 110 day hunger strike. On September 4, 2012, a civilian court upheld his sentence, but his family and other human rights activists in Bahrain have not stopped pressing for justice from the Bahraini government.
2,320 of you told your senators that you want to avoid war with Iran. While there is still talk of a military strike against Iran's nuclear program, the Obama Administration has stated a commitment to allowing diplomacy to run the course. GlobalSolutions.org will continue to advocate that any effort to end Iran's nuclear program be peaceful as long as all diplomatic options have not been exhausted.
