Write Your US Senator in Support of the CRPD
Submitted by Sarah on Wed, 10/12/2011 - 11:03am.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is the first new human rights convention of the 21st century and the first international treaty to address disability rights globally. While the Convention does not establish new human rights, it describes the obligations of countries to promote, protect and ensure the rights of persons with disabilities.
The United States signed the CRPD on July 30th, 2009, but in order to ratify the treaty, the United States Senate must approve a resolution of ratification by a 2/3 majority (67 votes).
The CRPD treaty was in part inspired by the United States’ lead in recognizing the rights of individuals with disabilities. Ratifying the treaty will position the United States as a leader, encouraging other states to ratify and implement it and continue to follow the example of our nation’s robust domestic legal protection of disability rights.
Please write your US Senators requesting their support
for ratification of the CRPD.
• Click this link to email Senator Bob Corker:
http://corker.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ContactMe
• Click this link to email Senator Lamar Alexander:
If you would like more information on the CRPD in order to craft your email, go to: http://www.usicd.org/index.cfm/crpd
Below are key points that you can cut and paste for your correspondence, as well.
Your help will be most effective if in your own words as much as possible.
• We are asking our US Senators for their support and leadership in the ratification of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The interests of the almost one million Tennesseans with disabilities would be well served by the United States’ active engagement in disability rights practices around the world.
• The Convention is a nondiscrimination treaty that mirrors the Americans with Disabilities Act. It does not create any new rights and would not require any changes to federal law in the United States. It seeks to strengthen existing rights and principles.
• As a party, the United States can use the CRPD to encourage other countries to ratify and implement the instrument to achieve the high standard of accessibility that the United States has embraced, benefitting the millions of US citizens abroad.
• Ratification would also help promote U.S. business Interests. It would help level the playing field for U.S. corporations by requiring businesses abroad to meet accessibility requirements similar to those that U.S. companies already comply with under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
