UN Disability Rights Treaty Voted Down by Republicans

Much to the dismay of disability rights supporters, a United Nations treaty to ensure disability rights worldwide was voted down last December by the U.S. Senate, despite the fact the treaty was modeled after our own Americans with Disabilities Act. The decision leaves many scratching their heads, and not fully buying the lame-duck excuses being given. In total, 38 Republicans voted "no" to the treaty, making the 61-38 vote fall shy of the required two-thirds needed to ratify it. The treaty has been signed by 155 nations and ratified by 126 countries, including Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia. The treaty would ensure that those with disabilities enjoy the same freedoms and rights as non-disabled citizens.

Opposition claimed that the treaty came up for vote during a lame-duck session of Congress, when the Senators who are on the way out are present, and those just elected had yet to take up their posts. Some cautioned that the treaty could even pose a threat to the United States from hostile countries. "I do not support the cumbersome regulations and potentially overzealous international organizations with anti-American biases that infringe upon American society," said Jim Inhofe, Republican senator from Oklahoma.

Supporters of the treaty included many of the GOP's prominent veterans, including 89-year-old Bob Dole, who uses a wheelchair and was disabled in World War II, and Senator John McCain, who was disabled during Vietnam. Even President Barrack Obama released a written statement in tribute to Bob Dole, where he stated that “disability rights should not stop at our nation's shores.” "It really isn't controversial," rebutted John Kerry, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts. "What this treaty says is very simple. It just says that you can't discriminate against the disabled. It says that other countries have to do what we did 22 years ago when we set the example for the world and passed the Americans with Disabilities Act."

Senator Kerry also said it was "one of the saddest days I've seen in almost 28 years in the Senate, and it needs to be a wake-up call about a broken institution that's letting down the American people." The treaty is formally the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It was negotiated by George W. Bush, was completed in 2006, and signed by Barrack Obama in 2009. The treaty would be a major benefit to U.S. citizens with disabilities who want to study or work abroad.

Republican opposition was rallied by former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and led by tea party-favorite Senator Mike Lee from Utah, who said that the treaty could lead to the state making decisions on what was in the best interest of disabled children, rather than their parents. Both felt that topics such as home schooling and equal rights for reproductive health care could have negative consequences.

Behind the big push to vote "no" against the disability rights treat was the conservative policy lobbyists of Heritage Action for America, who warned that each senator's vote would be recorded on their "scorecard" and added that the treaty "would erode the principles of American sovereignty and federalism." Could the outcome of the treaty's ratification been different if the timing had been better? Unfortunately for disability rights advocates, 36 Republicans had just signed a letter in September stating they would not vote for any treaty brought up during the lame duck session of outgoing senators, thus ensuring that the party of "no" had hit its most immovable stride. But who is right here--those who supported the disability rights treaty or those who voted against it?

Sources: huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/04/disability-treaty_n_2238181.html video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50078688/#50078688 Image source: vimeo.com standingonthesideoflove.org aidsfreeworld.org theepochtimes.com theblaze.com