On November 18, Connect U.S. Fund staff and community members met with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Mona Sutphen to discuss the prospects for Senate ratification of key international treaties in the coming years.  The administration was also represented by National Security Council Director for Multilateral Affairs Jeffrey Brown and Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy.

Connect U.S. Fund President Nancy Soderberg opened by explaining that this meeting was prompted by a previous meeting with Administration officials, Hill staff, advocates and veterans of past treaty ratifications that explored the conditions necessary for successful ratifications of five key treaties on the Administrations priority list.   These treaties included the expected U.S. Russia Strategic Arms Reduction (START) follow-on, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the newly-signed UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).One of the key lessons-learned, she emphasized, was that strong White House leadership was critical to success in the Senate.

Participants then discussed the outlook for the treaty they supported in the Senate and identified key areas where White House action could have an impact.  Each of the treaties was presented by a key working group/coalition leader from the NGO community:

• Don Kraus, Citizens for Global Solutions - UNCLOS
• John Isaacs, Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation - START
• Daryl Kimball, Arms Control Association - CTBT
• Alex Arriega, Co-Chair, Working Group on CEDAW
• David Morrisey, U.S. International Council on Disabilities - CRPD
• Stephen Rickard, Open Society Institute Policy Center - lessons learned

The meeting concluded with a general agreement that successfully achieving ratification of any or all of the treaties would require ongoing communication and coordination.