Perspectives on Social Issues
(March 2007)

U.N. Pledge of Equality for Women Deserves U.S. Ratification
"Of the 192 members of the United Nations, 185 countries have ratified the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women [CEDAW]. Its provisions require that women have pay equal to that of men, that women have freedom to choose a marriage partner, and that women stand on a basis of equality with men in the areas of public, economic, social and cultural rights. Every signatory must report every four years on the status of women in their nation.

President Carter signed the treaty on July 17, 1980, and urged the Senate to ratify it. The Reagan and the first Bush administrations did not support the ratification of this treaty. The Clinton administration favored it and in 1994 urged the Senate to approve it. The administration of George W. Bush has never urged its ratification. It will be wonderful if the new political atmosphere will bring ratification of the treaty. This would mean the United States becomes the 186th country in the world to sign the pledge that will give complete equality to all women."

“U.N. Pledge of Equality for Women Deserves U.S. Support” by Robert F. Drinan*, National Catholic Reporter (NCR), Feb 2, 2007.
*Editor's Note: Fr. Drinan, SJ, a longtime NCR columnist, died on January 28, 2007, following a short illness.

Global Wisdom from Kofi Annan
"Excerpts from Kofi Annan’s last speech as secretary general of the United Nations (Dec. 11, 2006):

• In today’s world, the security of every one of us is linked to that of everyone else. No nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others.... Only by working to make each other secure can we hope to achieve lasting security for ourselves....
• We are not only all responsible for each other’s security. We are also, in some measure, responsible for each other’s welfare. Global solidarity is both necessary and possible....
• Both security and development ultimately depend on respect for human rights and the rule of law.
• Governments must be accountable for their actions in the international arena, as well as in the domestic one.
• We can only do all these things by working together through a multilateral system, and by making the best possible use of the...United Nations...."

"Kofi Annan: Visionary and Victim" by Barbara Crossette, America, Jan 15, 2007.

Scientists Agree: Global Warming Unstoppable, Yet Don't Give Up
"Global warming is happening now and it will continue for centuries no matter what we do. But don't give up hope. That's the complex message that scientists are trying to get across after [the February 2, 2007] release of a landmark climate report by the world's leading experts and government officials. It's a balancing act. Scientists are trying to warn about dire consequences, but not scare people into throwing up their hands and doing nothing -- a reaction that would only guarantee the worst scenarios would come true. What's the worst? Maybe more than 1 million dead and hundreds of billions of dollars in costs by 2100, in a world adapting to more extreme weather such as droughts, hurricanes and wildfires, said Kevin Trenberth. He's one of the many co-authors of the report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And if nothing is done soon to curb greenhouse gas emissions, experts say, by 2100 the melting of Greenland's ice sheet would become inevitable. Over the following centuries, the world's seas would rise by 1 more than 20 feet....

But can the worst be headed off? 'It's not too late,' if greenhouse gas emissions are curbed quickly, said Australian scientist Nathaniel Bindoff, another co-author. But 'it's later than we think,' said panel co-chair Susan Solomon, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist. It's close to too late to alter the future for her children but maybe it's not too late for her grandchildren, she said."

"Scientists Say Global Warming Unstoppable for Centuries," La Crosse Tribune, Feb 3, 2007.

What Will Be U.S. Congressional Budget Priorities?
"Budget season is beginning. Members of Congress will be making decisions on how to spend billions of dollars on our behalf over the next several weeks. What will they decide? Will Congress recognize the critical need for tools other than military power -- such as diplomacy, nonviolent strategies, and development aid-to address conflict in the world? Will Congress turn its attention to the Gulf Coast region still torn up by hurricane-related damage?

Will Congress take the opportunity to invest in effective responses to global warming? Will it address the curable diseases that are still lethal for many low-income people in this country, and perhaps support research on other diseases? Could this be the year when Congress will commit to the idea that everyone should have shelter, that no one should go hungry?

Or will Congress choose, as in so many other years, to spend the bulk of U.S. tax dollars on war and the military?"

“Billions for War, Pennies for Peace," FCNL Newsletter, Feb. 2007.

U.S. Is World's Largest Weapons Dealer
"The U. S. provided nearly half of the conventional weapons sold to developing nations in 2005, according to the Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations report that is prepared every eight years for Congress. The U.S. is the only country that has two distinct accounting systems for exporting weapons: government-to-government and commercial. There is no official data on commercial sales, and exporters are not required to report sales contract data to the U.S. Department of State. The following information concerns government-to-government sales:

• $44.2 billion: The total value of all arms transfer agreements worldwide (to both developed and developing nations) in 2005.
• $30.2 billion: The value of all arms transfer agreements with developing nations in 2005, the highest annual total since 1998.
• 35.5 percent: U.S. share of all developing world arms transfer agreements in 2004. It dropped to 20.5 percent in 2005 (possibly due to an increase in U.S. subcontracting of arms sales to private companies).
• $5.2 billion: The value of Egypt's purchase agreements of U.S. arms from 2002 to 2005. In the same period, Saudi Arabia's purchase agreement totaled $4.2 billion and Israel's $2.5 billion.

Source: Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 1998-2005 by the Congressional Research Service.'"

“Follow the Weapons Trade," Sojourners Magazine, Mar 2007.