In 2007:

• Citizens for Global Solutions has successfully organized a “strange bedfellows” coalition to support the Law of the Sea. This diverse group includes environmental groups, oil and gas lobbyists, Bush administration representatives, peace groups, foreign policy and legal scholars, as well as representatives of the fishing, shipping, shipbuilding, and telecommunications industries. Thanks to this group’s hard work, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the Law of the Sea by a 17-4 vote. Citizens for Global Solutions organized numerous lobby visits and grassroots pressure campaigns to achieve this outcome. We will continue to coordinate this coalition until the full Senate approves the Law of the Sea.
• As part of our “End Torture” campaign, Citizens for Global Solutions has forged a close relationship with author Michael Otterman, an award winning journalist and documentary filmmaker and currently a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney. In fall 2007, we coordinated a successful tour around the Southwest and West Coast to promote his critically acclaimed book, “American Torture: From the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and Beyond.” The tour was cosponsored by Amnesty International USA.
• In November, Interim Director and Senior Fellow Raj Purohit was interviewed on the American Urban Radio Networks about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. The success of the interview led to the possibility of doing at least one interview per month with the option for a rapid response interview for breaking news on Darfur. This is one of the largest networks reaching urban America, is the only African American broadcaster with a bureau in the White House and conducts around 300 shows a week reaching an estimated 25 million people.