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Our Accomplishments Mid 2004 - Mid 2005
International Law and Justice
For the past year, we have raised awareness of the genocide in Darfur, Sudan and educated the public about the need for an ICC prosecution. In January 2005, our President, Charles J. Brown, who was a member of the U.S. delegation to the ICC negotiations, sent a letter (which we publicized in the media) to President Bush calling on him to support referral.
In February, we wrote two briefing papers, Options for Accountability in Sudan and The ICC and Sudan, which were both circulated to key audiences, including NGOs, policymakers, Congressional staff and the media.
In February and March, we organized a "Radio Tour" of key U.S. states in which Citizens for Global Solutions staff appeared on 25 different national and local radio programs, mostly during drive time, to discuss the Darfur genocide and the need for a referral to the ICC.
On March 9, in collaboration with eight other prominent organizations, we sent a letter to the Security Council commenting on the latest draft resolution before the Council and calling for stronger action. This ad-hoc group followed up the letter less than two weeks later by suggesting language for a stronger draft resolution that included an ICC referral. Thanks in part to our work the U.S. abstained during the UN Security Council vote to refer the situation to the ICC in March, a dramatic shift in policy.
On March 31, we coordinated the visit of ICC President Philippe Kirsch to Washington, DC. We organized a meeting between President Kirsch and Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA) and a staff briefing by President Kirsch through the Human Rights Caucus that was attended by approximately 25 staff from Congressional offices. We will be hosting President Kirsch again in September.
In April, we hosted the Washington, D.C. premiere of a WITNESS film and a subsequent panel discussion on sexual exploitation, child soldiers, and prospects for international justice in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Over 100 people attended the film and reception at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars.
UN Reform
Working with the Stanley Foundation and the UN Foundation's 'Better World Campaign', we created UN21, a coalition of organizations advocating for constructive UN reform. Through regular conference calls and a list serv that we host, Citizens for Global Solutions is leading the discussion on how to understand and respond to UN reform proposals such as the High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges, and Change, Kofi Annan's report, In Larger Freedom, the USIP Gingrich-Mitchell Task Force, and numerous UN reform bills in Congress.
In September 2004, Citizens for Global Solutions co-hosted a discussion on the High Level Panel featuring one of its members, former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans.
In December 2004, we co-hosted a panel featuring our own UN reform expert, Executive Vice President Don Kraus, to discuss the findings of the High Level Panel. Furthermore, Citizens for Global Solutions hosted a successful retreat with the Stanley Foundation, focused on messaging on the report of the Secretary General's panel on Threats, Challenges, and Change.
United Nations Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS)
Citizens for Global Solutions helped craft proposals for UNEPS, which would help prevent early stage crises, whether caused by violent conflict or natural phenomenon, from escalating into national or regional disasters. Working with other organizations to develop and promote the UNEPS concept, we have led the effort at the grassroots level, in the media, in Washington, and with like-minded groups around the world.
In February 2005, Executive Vice President Don Kraus attended a meeting in Cuenta, Spain to further develop the proposal and generate support from other organizations. In part because of our efforts, Representatives Albert Wynn (D-MD) and James Leach (R-IA) introduced legislation to establish UNEPS this year.
U.S. Global Engagement
The new U.S. in the World guide, published by the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, and the Aspen Institute's Global Interdependence Initiative, is an important tool in helping proponents of cooperative U.S. global engagement make their case to the U.S. public. Citizens for Global Solutions, with the assistance of the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, has conducted trainings on the guide with our nationwide network of grassroots partners groups, citizens groups and foreign affairs professionals.
On May 6, 2005, Citizens for Global Solutions in collaboration with The Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at American University Washington College of Law convened a workshop to explore how to most effectively talk with the public about human rights issues. This full-day interactive session involved advocates from over 15 organizations with interests as diverse as immigration policy, environmental protection, penal reform, religious action, homelessness, issues related to the Holocaust, and human rights in general.
The Senate's failure to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which enjoyed broad bipartisan support, illustrates the increasingly frequent problems that proponents of cooperative U.S. engagement in the international system have in making their case on Capitol Hill. In light of this, Citizens for Global Solutions, with support from the Connect US Fund, is coordinating an effort to develop a new framework for talking about treaties and international institutions with Congress.
Stop Bolton Campaign
Immediately following the nomination of John Bolton as UN Ambassador on May 7, 2005, Citizens for Global Solutions launched the Stop Bolton campaign to illustrate the critical nature of the U.S.-UN relationship, show the need for effective UN reform, and make the case that John Bolton is the wrong man for the job. Our Stop Bolton campaign and www.stopbolton.org was featured in over 75 newspaper articles, aired on 40 radio stations, written about in well over 100 blogs and 80 internet news sites.
In addition, Citizens for Global Solutions ran 21 television and 31 radio advertisements in key states such as Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Our efforts helped generate hundreds of phone calls placed to Congressional offices and over 21,000 signatories for a petition campaign against John Bolton's nomination.
CGS at the Community of Democracies
As one of only 10 NGOs invited to sit at the negotiating table during this spring's meeting in Santiago, Chile of over 100 governments in the Community of Democracies, Citizens for Global Solutions President Charles J. Brown was able to influence negotiations to identify acceptable standards of behavior for democracies in the international arena.
2005 Congressional Report Card
Each year Citizens for Global Solutions publishes our Congressional Report Card which lets you know how Senators and Representatives voted on legislation that affects the United Nations, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the global environment, global health, and other international issues and institutions. This year's Report Card has been covered in the wide-read Capitol Hill magazine, The Hill, as well as multiple regional papers and internet sites.
Flash Video Contest
In fall 2004 Citizens for Global Solutions launched an innovative contest, asking youth to use Flash technology to develop short, online movies that gave their solution to a pressing global problem. Over 3,000 people, almost all of them under 30, registered for the contest and joined our e-advocacy list. We received more than one hundred flash video submissions. The competition has been covered in local and national publications, and we have been asked to share our techniques for conducting flash video contests by MTV's Rock the Vote.
Global Resolutions 2005
From November 2004 through February 2005, Citizens for Global Solutions chapters participated in an exciting project to communicate with their communities and elected leaders about the need for cooperative U.S. global engagement. The project involved developing and placing advertisements about our issues – addressed to their Representatives and Senators -- in local newspapers. Over 200 members participated in crafting and voting on the resolutions. Twenty three groups in thirteen states participated in the project, and the ads ran in forty papers a total of forty-four times.
Citizens for Global Solutions in the News
Over the past year, Citizens for Global Solutions has appeared on seven international news television programs including CSPAN, CNN, BBC, CNN International and NBC Meet the Press.
Furthermore, Citizens for Global Solutions appeared in over 121 newspapers including such major regional and national papers as The Washington Post, The Financial Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Reuters and United Press International.
See what else we've done:
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