Treaty banning cluster bombs marks one year anniversary

(London) August 1, 2011 — Campaigners are calling on all countries to join the treaty banning cluster bombs, marking one year after it became binding international law.

“The best way to stop cluster bombs from being used is to join this treaty and do so now,” said Laura Cheeseman, director of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC). “We are winning the battle against cluster bombs, but need all states to join the team against these deadly weapons.”

A total of 109 countries are now on board the Convention on Cluster Munitions. In the 12 months since it  entered into force internationally, 21 countries that previously signed the treaty have ratified it, and one country has acceded (a one-step process of signing and ratifying).

“An impressive amount has been achieved in the cluster bomb ban treaty’s first year of life,” said Laura Cheeseman, director of the Cluster Muition Coalition (CMC).“Stockpiles are being destroyed and contaminated land is being cleared, preventing thousands more lives being lost as a result of these weapons,” she added.

Take Action: Support Colombian Internally Displaced Persons

Colombia has one of the highest internally displaced populations in the world.  In 2009 alone, 280,000 civilians were newly displaced in addition to over 4 million already displaced.  Victims of forced displacement leave their homes and families to escape violence, intimidation, and rape from both legal and illegal armed groups.  Vulnerable groups such as Afro-Colombians, indigenous communities and women face the greatest consequences of the armed conflict.

In 2004, the Colombian Constitutional Court declared a State of Unconstitutional Affairs and ordered the Colombian government to address the needs and rights of the displaced population.  Despite the Constitutional Court’s demands, Colombia’s displacement crisis continues and the Colombian government has yet to implement these orders.  The resolution led by Representative Hank Johnson (GA) and 22 other co-sponsors calls on the Government of Colombia to fully implement the Constitutional Court’s orders.

Ms. Sascha Thompson, Rep. Johnson’s aide, stated at a recent WOLA event that “many internally displaced Colombian leaders, who have been brave enough to organize their communities to speak out about their rights and to demand the Colombian authorities to meet its obligations to protect them and restore their lands, have become constant targets of threats against their lives, harassment, additional human rights violations, and extra violence.” These leaders and their families need your help.

Many indigenous groups in Colombia are on the verge of extinction. Afro-Colombians’ livelihoods are threatened by the armed conflict and invasive government policies.  The precarious condition of women is exacerbated by gender based violence.  Vulnerable populations in Colombia are disproportionately affected by the consequences of the armed conflict and their human rights must be protected.
Send a message to your representative asking him/her to co-sponsor House Resolution 1224

Day of Action to Ban Landmines USA

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TAKE ACTION: Time is now for TPS for Haiti

Immigrations & Customs Enforcement earlier today announced they were suspending deportations of Haitians in the United States:

STATEMENT BY DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY MATT CHANDLER:
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary John Morton today halted all removals to Haiti for the time being in response to the devastation caused by yesterday’s earthquake. ICE continues to closely monitor the situation.

Jesuit Refugee Service/USA believes the U.S. should grant Temporary Protected Status to Haitians in the U.S., and we urge you to take action today to urge the White House and Congress to grant TPS to Haitian nationals in the United States, allowing the Haitian government the time it needs to invest its limited resources into rebuilding the country and offering emergency relief to its suffering citizens following a devastating earthquake which rocked the nation on the afternoon of January 12, 2010.

U.S. declines to join treaty banning landmines

CNN reports the U.S. will not join the treaty formally banning landmines. “This administration undertook a policy review and we decided our landmine policy remains in effect,” a State Department spokesman said in response to a question. “We made our policy review and we determined that we would not be able to meet our national defense needs nor our security commitments to our friends and allies if we sign this convention.”

Reuters notes that

The treaty bans the use, stockpiling, production or transfer of antipersonnel mines. It has been endorsed by 156 countries, but the United States, Russia, China and India have not adopted it.

U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, a leading advocate for the treaty, called the decision “a default of U.S. leadership.”

The U.S. decision comes just before a review conference on the 10-year-old Mine Ban Treaty is due to get under way in Cartegena, Colombia. The treaty is widely credited with reducing landmine deaths and injuries around the world.

Take Action here, and urge the White House to change their position and formally adopt the treaty.

More voices in favor of TPS for Haiti

Newsday joins the growing chorus of newspapers who have called for Temporary Protected Status to be granted to Haiti.

Haitians on Long Island and throughout the United States desperately need a break that President Barack Obama could provide with the stroke of a pen. That’s all it would take to grant Temporary Protected Status and postpone the deportation of 30,000 Haitians to their home country, which is reeling from devastating storms and floods. Obama should authorize the reprieve.

Read the full editorial here.

Tell them to ban cluster bombs

All nations need to ban cluster bombs, but this Global Week of Action will target 5 key countries that have not yet signed the treaty: Brazil, Cambodia, Iraq, Nigeria and Serbia.

Follow this link, enter your name, email address and country in the form to send a letter to each of these countries urging them to sign the Cluster Bomb Ban Treaty.

U.S. urged to sign cluster bomb ban treaty

The United States government needs to sign the new treaty banning cluster bombs and become part of the international consensus against this weapon. Banning Cluster Munitions, a new report released today by Cluster Munitions Coalition members, shows how the prohibition on cluster munitions is firmly taking hold as more countries join the new treaty banning the weapon and hold – out states shift their policies in the right direction.

The U.S. is not among the 96 nations that have signed the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was adopted on May 30, 2008, and opened for signature six months later. This treaty prohibits the use, production and transfer of cluster munitions, requires destruction of stockpiled weapons within eight years and clearance of contaminated land within ten years, and assistance to victims.

DREAM Act introduced in Senate, House

On March 26, 2009, Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) introduced the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act) (S.729).

A nearly identical bill (H.R. 1751) was introduced in the House by Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA).

The DREAM Act permits certain immigrant students who have grown up in the United States to adjust to temporary legal status and eventually obtain permanent resident status provided that they attend college or enter the U.S. military.