Originally published on the CGS blog on December 19, 2013.
To my friends and colleagues in the GlobalSolutions.org community, I wish you a joyful holiday season and a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year! May you celebrate and bask in the warmth of your family and friends.
As we approach the time of year for reflection and giving, I am grateful that we can continue our work together to abolish war, protect our environment, and solve problems facing humanity that no nation can solve alone.
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon’s call to make 2014 “the year of protecting people” speaks to why the work that we are committed to is so important. We understand that protecting people is about pushing for pragmatic and systemic solutions to pressing global problems.
Here are some of the challenges that we will take on next year. I hope you can support our efforts to:
- On climate, pressure President Obama to take bold leadership at the September 2014 U.N. Climate Summit in New York to prepare a global agreement that can receive broad support in Washington, DC, and around the world. Time is running out! The 2013 climate meeting in Warsaw, Poland made little headway. There are only 24 months left until the 2015 Paris climate meeting where world leaders will determine the fate of our efforts to fight climate change. We are up against oil companies and skeptics who believe that a global agreement is impossible. However, we know this is the only way we can effectively rein in greenhouse gas emissions.
- On human rights, urge the U.S. to join with other nations to limit the veto when the U.N. Security Council responds to genocide and mass atrocities. GlobalSolutions.org is the only U.S.-based organization focused on this issue. Syria’s war is estimated to have killed more than 126,000 people in 33 months, and forced millions more to flee their homes. But the use or threat of the veto has made the U.N. Security Council practically impotent when it comes to ending this senseless violence and protecting people on the ground. We’ve seen this before in Rwanda and Darfur. 2014 is the time to push for a Security Council that works.
- On international law, expose the far right’s Big Lieswhen the Senate considers treaties including the Arms Trade Treaty, the Disability Treaty and CEDAW (the Women’s Equality Treaty)! Multilateral treaties establish rules that allow countries to work together responsibly and cooperate with clarity and predictability. Since the founding of the United Nations, the United States has been a leader in crafting these agreements. However, the U.S. Senate has not successfully ratified a major multilateral treaty since the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997. The Senate’s failure to commit has damaged the U.S.’s security, economy and global leadership. This failure is not accidental. A well-funded and well-organized opposition has emerged that works to fend off and defeat multiparty international agreements, particularly those associated in any way with the U.N. Too much is at stake to let the Big Lies of the far right defeat many of these important agreements.
We know that international cooperation is essential to resolve global challenges and build a safer, more secure world. If you believe as passionately as I do that we must accomplish these goals, then join me in “putting your money where your mouth is” and contribute to these vitally important campaigns.
Thank you for all that you do! Now let’s get ready for 2014, its challenges and opportunities, and truly make it a year that we can protect those we love and people worldwide. Let’s stand for progress together.
