[Nfbf-l] GOP Paranoid Politics Defeats Disability Treaty in Senate, 61 - 38

[Alan Dicey]

John Kerry and Chen Guancheng
GOP Paranoid Politics Defeats Disability Treaty in Senate, 61 - 38
by Lainey Feingold? Dec. 05? 2012

Senator Kerry was eloquent. 89-year old Bob Dole emailed from Walter Reed 
hospital and made it to the Senate floor to urge a yes vote. Chinese 
dissident Chen Guangcheng wrote a supporting letter. Veterans, disability 
and civil rights group lobbied, tweeted, and organized. But it wasn?t 
enough. On December 4, at 9:29 a.m., thirty eight Republican Senators voted 
against the United Nations Convention of the Rights of People with 
Disabilities (#CRPD). That's all it took to deprive the majority of the 2/3 
vote needed to ratify a basic human rights treaty already approved by over 
120 countries around the world. Yesterday at 9:29 a.m. human rights lost. 
The victors, to quote the New York Times, were "purveyors of paranoid 
politics."

Rick Santorum?s far right minions jumped on the no-on-CRPD bandwagon at the 
11th hour. They pulled out every fringe argument in the book: the treaty 
would result in more abortions, fewer parental rights, less sovereignty. An 
international treaty that couldn?t change U.S. law if it tried would 
somehow, according to the Tea Party, negatively affect U.S. home schoolers. 
Lions and Tigers and Bears ? oh no!

It was all false, but the falsehoods didn?t matter to the 38 Republicans who 
voted no. Find out who voted no on ADAPT?s Wall of Shame. And those 38 
Republicans had supporters. Some tweeted about one world doomsday scenarios, 
rampant abortions and a supposed victory for ?freedom.? It was, according to 
John Kerry ?one of saddest days I?ve seen in 28 years in the Senate."

Sad and ironic. Republicans who believe in ?spreading democracy? with tanks 
and weapons, invading countries with abandon, voted against exporting U.S. 
notions of equality. The CRPD would not ? could not ? change the law in the 
United States one iota. But the treaty was in fact modeled on U.S. law, and 
ratifying it would have recognized that the U.S. idea of disability rights 
deserves to be copied internationally.

Another irony? China ratified the treaty in 2008, yet opportunities for 
people with disabilities in China pale in comparison with rights guaranteed 
in U.S. law. Chinese human rights activist Chen Guancheng weighed in in 
support of the treaty ? how embarrassing that he was witness to a No Vote in 
his current country of residence. Chen wrote to the senators:

?My work on civil rights began with trying to ensure that people with 
disabilities in my home country of China were afforded the same rights as 
everyone else. The [Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities] 
is making this idea real in significant ways around the world today... The 
U.S. -- which was instrumental in negotiating the CRPD -- can continue to 
advance both its principles and issues of practical accessibility for its 
citizens and all people around the world, and by ratifying the treaty, so 
take its rightful place of leadership in the arena of human rights.?

Chen?s voice, and that of thousands of others rallying to support the CRPD, 
was ignore by the 38 Republicans. 38 Senators, from states including 
Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, trumped the overwhelming majority of 
senators, representing the overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens, who 
wanted to ratify this treaty. As Senator Harry Reid said in his post-vote 
statement: ?It is a sad day when we cannot pass a treaty that simply brings 
the world up to the American standard for protecting people with 
disabilities because the Republican party is in thrall to extremists and 
ideologues.?

The ray of sunshine in this rainy day story? The activism, commitment and 
dedication of the disability rights and veterans communities, their Senate 
allies, and human rights compatriots in the United States and around the 
world.

People with disabilities and their organizations rallied around the CRPD 
cause and the majority of U.S. Senators responded favorably. This is not the 
last we?ve heard about this human rights treaty. As Senator Reid said ?. . 
.I plan to bring this treaty up for a vote again in the next Congress. Our 
wounded veterans and millions more around the world deserve better.?


Lainey Feingold is a disability rights lawyer in Berkeley, California. You 
can follow her on Twitter at @LFLegal.
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