Please join our new End Torture Campaign Myspace page
Working Together, Finding Solutions
Citizens for Global Solutions is a nationwide organization that inspires America to engage the world. Our members recognize that in today’s interconnected world, our lives, our jobs and our families are increasingly affected by global problems. Challenges like terrorism, climate change, failed states and infectious diseases cannot be addressed by any one country alone, not even the United States. Citizens for Global Solutions believes that countries can best solve global problems by working together to find global solutions.
We believe that achieving a secure, connected, just and livable world requires effective international law and institutions, as well as a U.S. foreign policy that makes us safer and stronger through cooperation.
Citizens for Global Solutions envisions and advocates:
A Secure World in which we work together with our friends and allies to tackle global problems that no one nation can solve alone, like terrorism, genocide and failed states;
A Connected World in which Americans recognize the link between global issues and local concerns in communities at home;
A Just World in which terrorists, human rights abusers and war criminals are held responsible for their crimes and deterred from future attacks; and,
A Livable World in which global collaborative efforts effectively confront environmental and health threats.
Click here for more information.
The moderator of this page is Tom Moran . Tom can be contacted through Myspace or at
[email protected]
Current Issues
Towards A New Energy Future
We are all part of a global energy system whose dependence on fossil fuels is exacting a steep price - global warming, poverty, armed conflict, authoritarianism…the list goes on and on.
In our interconnected world, the energy choices of each nation affect all nations. If the U.S. kicked our fossil fuel habit tomorrow, we would still face a host of problems as a result of the rest of the world’s continued dependence. We need shared energy solutions to the common challenges we face.
As the world’s leading consumer of energy, the U.S. has both a unique power and a real responsibility to guide the course of global energy policy. It is time to use that power to invest in a new energy future, working in partnership with other nations to develop comprehensive energy solutions that will be good for the environment, good for development and good for security. More
End Torture Campaign
Sign the online petition and tell your elected leaders that the U.S. MUST be above torture.
Since the dawn of the Geneva Conventions and the United Nations Convention Against Torture, the United States has played a key role in promoting the rule of law and championing universal human rights, including freedom from torture.
From JFK to Reagan, American leaders have understood that the global community will look at our behavior and hope the United States can be the shining city upon a hill whose beacon of light guides freedom-loving people everywhere.
When we are at our best we have shown that we can be that beacon, that city on the hill.
Unfortunately the past few years has seen damaging and unethical policies cast a shadow over our country and led friend and foe to question whether we believe in human rights and the rule of law. The questions have been spurred by infamous violations committed by and on behalf of America - Abu Ghraib, Secret Prisons, Extraordinary Rendition.
These words will forever be associated with the United States because of warped government decisions. The treatment of prisoners in Iraq and the broader Middle East, even some of those techniques officially sanctioned, clearly violate the Geneva Conventions. We have forsaken the basic American value of eschewing torture and cruel and unusual punishment.
As a result, we have undermined our ability to demand humane treatment of our soldiers and civilians by others. And by sending the wrong message that the U.S. is free to pick and choose when it wants to uphold established international law, including its own treaty commitments, we are ultimately putting our own national security at great risk.
It is past time that we change course.
Our elected leaders owe it to the American people and the global community to fully investigate these fundamental breaches in the rule of law. We believe the only way this can be done is through the creation of an Independent Bipartisan Commission on torture and interrogation.
We hope you join us .
Please also join the
End Torture group on Myspace
International Law and Justice Program
GavelThe twentieth century was the bloodiest on record: 174 million people were killed as a result of genocide and mass murders by dictators, warlords, and human rights violators.
In the aftermath of two world wars and the precedent set by the Nuremberg trials against Nazi war criminals, the United States has supported international law as a way to end impunity for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide while promoting core principles such as due process, equality before the law and the protection of basic human rights.
Through its International Law and Justice (IL&J) Program, Citizens for Global Solutions strives to make justice, accountability, and "never again" a reality by ensuring U.S. support for international law and institutions such as the International Criminal Court (ICC), ad hoc tribunals, and other law and justice mechanisms essential to ensuring a safe and just world. More
Click here to read about our work on the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Click here to learn about Bilateral Immunity Agreements (BIAs)
Check out the End Torture Campaign .
Darfur Resource Center
The American people have raised their voices in an unprecedented show of grassroots activism to call for action in Darfur. Though horrific images from Darfur continue to fill our television screens, there is hope. The perseverence of Darfurians, the courage of aid workers, and the actions of ordinary citizens and world leaders committed to long-lasting peace in Darfur continue to inspire action and bring about change.
The international community, led by the United States, has the tools it needs to respond to the 4-year-old crisis in Darfur and act on its responsibility to protect innocent civilians. Now is the time for the international community to work together, pool its resources, and respond with one strong voice to end the killings in Darfur. The United States can use its influential status in the Security Council and in the international community to support the current African Union force and pave the way for U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur.
Citizens for Global Solutions recommends these four steps for U.S. foreign policy in Darfur.
Click here to find out what you can do to help bring the genocide in Darfur to the forefront of the foreign policy debate. You can also read updated commentary and analysis by our policy experts; listen to a radio interview with one of our experts on International Law and Justice; and watch multimedia flash videos by young people expressing their interpretation of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur and offering possible solutions.
Ensuring Peace and Security For All
When violence erupts in places like Darfur and Somalia, we want the international community to act quickly to end the bloodshed and establish a peacekeeping presence on the ground. But what if the international community responded before conflict or mass atrocities broke out? What if there was a way we could ensure lasting peace and security in post-conflict societies?
We live in an interconnected world where conflicts and issues such as fragile states, mass atrocities, proliferation of weapons, and terrorism affect all citizens, not just the victims of such horrors. The United States has a strong tradition of working with the international community to help foster global peace and security and can help strengthen multilateral cooperation to address the world’s most pressing challenges.
As a world leader, the United States has a unique opportunity to encourage innovative and multilateral approaches to building a safer world. A smart and effective U.S. foreign policy must engage a range of actors and processes in the international community to prevent crises from occurring, to respond in a coordinated and timely manner, and to help strengthen and rebuild societies affected by man-made and natural disasters. More
