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Thursday's global agenda: Another day, another treaty
Your morning global affairs speed-read
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee this morning weighs U.S. ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which the advocacy community hopes can be passed in the Senate this month. The treaty covers rights such as equal treatment and non-discrimination in access to justice, health, education, employment and rehabilitation.
Advocates argue it wouldn't create substantial new burdens for the United States but rather would reaffirm the nation's commitment to the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) while expanding its protections and opportunities worldwide. “Increasing access in the global community for people with disabilities is particularly important because of the increasingly global marketplace in which workers must compete,” the United Spinal Association said in calling for Senate passage in time for the ADA's anniversary on July 26. “Without international commitment to equal access, wheelchair users, disabled veterans and other U.S. citizens with disabilities may be unable to travel, live, work or study abroad.”
The treaty has bipartisan support. Later in the morning, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) will hold a press conference with advocates for people with disabilities to urge ratification. The two senators will also testify before the Senate panel, along with officials from the departments of State and Justice and several others.
Spotlight on Africa: U.S. policy in Africa comes under the microscope in the Senate today as the Foreign Relations panel considers four of President Obama's nominees for ambassadorships.
Across the continent in Guinea, Obama chose Alexander Mark Laskaris, a graduate of the U.S. Army War College who's served in Kosovo and Iraq, to deal with an oil-rich country whose stability and democratic credentials have come under threat following a string of coup attempts over the past few years.
In Liberia, Deborah Ruth Malac has been chosen to serve as ambassador to a country that the United States often holds up as a shining example following President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's election in 2005 after a decade of civil war. The president's controversial reelection last year, however, was marred by reports of irregularities and was boycotted by her runoff opponent.
Also, Gene Allan Cretz has been chosen to serve in Ghana, a rare economic success story in western Africa.
In other news:
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ annual conference in Cambodia on Thursday and pressed him to accept a code of conduct for resolving territorial disputes in the resource-rich South China Sea. [The Washington Post]
Iran is opening a public debate over its approach toward the crisis in Syria, with some diplomats publicly questioning whether Tehran should continue supporting President Bashar Assad's regime. [The Wall Street Journal]
A U.S. transport ship has been repurposed as a forward base designed as a counter to the threat posed by Iran in the Persian Gulf. [The New York Times]
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