UN/Treaties

The United States said Thursday that it will not sign a United Nations telecommunications treaty that U.S. technology companies warn would disrupt governance of the Internet and open the door to online censorship. Read more...

The nonbinding measure calls on U.N. member states to ensure citizens' access to health insurance

Delegates are running out of time to bury proposals that could have a major effect on the Internet.

Terry Kramer shot down reports that the U.S. failed to secure support for keeping Internet regulations out of the treaty.

The Senate passed a bill Wednesday night updating U.S. standards on foreign adoption services.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) said Wednesday that the defeat of a United Nations treaty to ban discrimination against people with disabilities was a "slap in the face."

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The 397-0 vote sends a signal to participants discussing a global telecommunications treaty at a closed-door conference this week.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed (D-Nev.) said he’d bring up the disability treaty for another vote in the next Congress.

“I plan to bring this treaty up for a vote again in the next Congress,” Reid said in a statement Tuesday, after the Senate rejected the treaty. “Our wounded veterans and millions more around the world deserve better.”

Former presidential candidate Rick Santorum immediately jumped on Tuesday's defeat of the U.N. disabilities treaty to promote his advocacy group in favor of conservative Republicans.

The former senator from Pennsylvania failed in his primary bid against Mitt Romney last year, but has since tried to reemerge as a conservative kingmaker. He launched his “Patriot Voices” nonprofit in June to get Republicans into office and push them to the right, and joined World Net Daily as a columnist this week.

“We did it,” Santorum tweeted Tuesday. “#CRPD was defeated today. @Patriot_voices will cont to have an impact on important issues. Pls join us.”

Republicans argued the treaty could lead to legal challenges for people homeschooling children.