Treaties
US Senate Poised to Vote on Disabilities Treaty
There is word from Capitol Hill that the Senate will vote this week on ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities. Can an international treaty that have little to do with abortion can nonetheless escape the trap of domestic American abortion politics?
Happy 30th Birthday, CEDAW
Thirty years ago today, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women was adopted by the General Assembly. Susan Rice has a nice statement marking the occasion. It’s about time the United States gets on board and ratifies the treaty, eh?
Ever closer to cluster bomb ban
Some good news on the long struggle to ban cluster bombs. From StopClusterMunitions.org:
The global Campaign against cluster bombs has received a major boost with the ratification of the treaty banning the weapons by three additional countries. Croatia deposited its instrument of ratification at the UN headquarters on Monday 17 August followed by its neighbour, Slovenia, on Wednesday 19 August. Subsequently, on 24 August, the UN Office for Legal Affairs sent its official notification that Zambia had deposited its instrument on 12 August, making it the 15th country to do so. Seventeen countries have now ratified this crucial treaty in less than nine months. Thirteen more ratifications are needed to reach 30 and trigger entry into force six months later.
Cluster munitions are troublesome from a moral and legal standpoint because their use results in a percentage of unexploded “bomlets” that can lay dormant long after the war is over. These bomlets become the functional equivalent of landmines and do not discriminate between combatants and non-combatants.
The idea is to relegate cluster munitions to the same illegal and universally shunned status as mustard gas. To that end, in 2008 94 countries met in Oslo to sign the Convention Against Cluster Munitions. Signatories include every Western European, central American and pretty much all commonwealth countries. A large number of Sub-Saharan and west African states are also signatories. The big holdouts are the United States and Russia, and China. In fact, the United States and Russia both used cluster munitions in recent conflicts.
The Cluster Munitions Coalition explains how you can take action and help ban these bombs for good.
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The SC; HRC; DPRK; South Sudan
The SC: The Security Council today held its last consultations under the Council Presidency of ROK. Tomorrow, Russia will take over the rotating Presidency of the Security Council for March under Ambassador Vitaly Churkin.
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The SG; Mali; Middle East; Palestine
The SG: At the Fifth Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations in Vienna, Austria today, the SG emphasized the role of youth in ensuring a “prosperous, equitable and peaceful future.”
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The SG; DRC; HRC; Palestinian Prisoner
The SG: In Ethiopia over the weekend, the SG is now in the United Arab Emirates. Today he met with Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, where the two discussed developments in the region, including Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, and in the Middle East Peace Process.
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