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Our Accomplishments
U.S.-U.N. Relations
Citizens for Global Solutions believes that the U.S. and U.N. need one
another to build a safe and better world for Americans and for everyone.
Furthermore, we believe that consensus-building, not arm-twisting, is
the most effective way to work with other countries and improve the U.N.
In 2006, the U.S.-U.N. relationship was severely tested, but by year’s
end we helped make the case for multilateralism and effective
international institutions to address some of the most complex
challenges of the 21st Century.
Early in the year, with our
programs/intl_instit/UN21/index.html">
U.N. campaign, we swung into gear to promote a strong and effective
United Nations. Hard-core opponents of the U.N. not only sought to
stifle the U.N. reform process, but also attempted to fundamentally
discredit the institution.
This past year we brought together like-minded organizations, engaged
our members and worked with our allies on Capitol Hill. Via this
strategy, Citizens for Global Solutions successfully helped the U.S.-U.N.
relationship navigate one of its most turbulent years. We successfully
worked around John Bolton’s threat to effectively shut down the United
Nations. We held off a push by some Members of Congress to tie our
legally obligated U.N. dues to an exhaustive set of demands. And we even
helped boost contributions to U.N. peacekeeping. Key to these efforts
was a new online tool,
The U.N.
Minute, designed to help U.N. supporters hone in on key messages and
highlight the value of the U.S.-U.N. relationship.
2006 Mid-term Elections: 90 Percent of Endorsed Candidates Win
Citizens for Global Solutions played a strong role in these elections,
helping to elect 8 new Senators and 13 new Representatives.
elections/elections_PAC_home.html">
Global Solutions PAC, our affiliated nonpartisan Political Action
Committee also helped return 138 incumbent globally-minded Members of
Congress. Overall, 159 of 176 candidates endorsed by our PAC won. For
more stories, see
elections/candidates.html">Our
Candidates and
elections/elections_news_analysis.html">
News and Analysis sections.
This past fall we saw competitive races in both the House and the
Senate, pitting globally-minded individuals against those who would
squander an opportunity to address the challenges of the 21st century.
Climate change, global infectious diseases, peacekeeping, and
prosecuting heinous acts of violence are major issues both inside and
outside the Beltway.
Citizens for Global Solutions members mobilized to engage candidates and
their communities in this important process. Through our
hill/reportcard/">Congressional
Report Card and
elections/CQ_home.html">
candidate questionnaire, we provide insight into how our leaders
will engage with the issues that matter most in creating a just and
sustainable world.
Bolton Nomination
During the summer, the conflict over the U.S.-U.N. relationship returned
to a familiar arena: the nomination of John Bolton as U.S. Ambassador to
the U.N. Political experts considered our bid to block Mr. Bolton’s
confirmation in the Senate a long shot, just as they did the first time
he was nominated in 2005. And just as in 2005, we succeeded against all
odds in preventing Mr. Bolton’s confirmation, sending a loud and
resounding signal that Americans value the work of the United Nations
and favor a cooperative approach with other countries.
Darfur
Our work on the
programs/peace_security/peace_ops/conflicts/darfur_resource_center.html">
crisis in Darfur led to some important developments in 2006.
Citizens for Global Solutions analyst Fatema Abdul Rasul wrote an
press_room/news/news_dailystar_darfur.htm">
article calling on Arab and Muslim leaders to take a stand against
the genocide in Darfur. This led to Fatema being interviewed by a number
of journalists and cited by Nicholas Kristof, the Pulitzer Prize winning
columnist at the New York Times.
We brought together a number of Muslim and Arab groups to discuss how
they could be more active in the advocacy efforts on Darfur. This
meeting was the first of its kind and some of the groups have since
joined the Save Darfur coalition and begun to actively engage their
constituents on Darfur.
International Criminal Court
Our analysis of the unintended consequences of the United States’ policy
to withhold foreign aid from ICC member states that refuse to sign a
programs/law_justice/foreign_ops_2006.html">
Bilateral Immunity Agreement with the U.S. helped persuade Congress
to pass an amendment that exempts certain types of aid from being cut—in
effect recognizing the counterproductive U.S. policy toward ICC member
states. This amendment was an important first step to reversing that
policy.
Flash Movie Contest
The second Citizens for Global Solutions
Flash Movie Contest had more than 9,000 participants, compared to
3,000 in its first year. The movies came from 15 countries across five
continents – including the U.S., Mexico, Australia, Colombia, Great
Britain and Nigeria.
The winners were a group of students from Mexico between 11 and 14
years-old. They created a wonderful animation about the environment and
showed that with a sustained and systematic approach, damage caused by
human pollution can be reversed if we act now. Their movie also included
a punk version of the Louis Armstrong classic, "What a Wonderful World.”
See what else we've done:
+ CLICK HERE
FOR 2005 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
+ CLICK HERE
FOR MID-2004-2005 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
+ CLICK HERE FOR 2004
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Updated December 21, 2006
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