December, 04 2019, 11:00pm EDT

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Amanda Kistler, Communications & Development Director at CIEL, akistler@ciel.org, WhatsApp: +1.339.225.1623
Sébastien Jodoin, McGill University, Faculty of Law, sebastien.jodoin-pilon@mcgill.ca, WhatsApp: +1.514.906.1740
Countries Have a Duty to Pursue Disability-Inclusive Climate Action, According to New Report
MADRID, Spain
Today, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD), and Inclusiva released a new report The Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the Context of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. In the midst of the current climate negotiations at COP25, this report reminds Parties to UN Climate Agreements of their commitments to taking a rights-based, disability-inclusive approach to climate action.
The report provides a powerful tool for both policy makers and civil society representatives at COP25, gathering the relevant provisions under various international agreements related to the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of climate change. This includes the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), through which 180 states agreed to promote and protect the rights of disabled persons, and the Sendai Framework, which enlists governments to engage and empower persons with disabilities and to integrate their concerns into planning to reduce disaster risks. It also provides a compilation of all references to disability and persons with disabilities under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
"The climate crisis is already inflicting devastating consequences that more heavily impact persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups," says Sebastien Duyck, Senior Attorney at CIEL. "As we move forward with implementing the Paris Agreement, it is vital that this report serve as a baseline for engaging persons with disabilities in the global response to climate change -- engagement that should extend far beyond the explicit references in UN Climate Agreements."
According to the report, persons with disabilities are disproportionately vulnerable to the consequences of climate change, and empowering persons with disabilities to participate in climate-related decision-making can lead to stronger climate action and more resilient societies. Yet, disabled persons have been one of the most overlooked groups in policy-making on climate change so far.
"The on-going failure to include persons with disabilities in climate governance will only result in inaccessible climate policies and programs that reinforce existing social inequities and limit the share of the population that can contribute to addressing the climate crisis," explains Sebastien Jodoin, a law professor with a disability at McGill University, who co-authored this report. "On the other hand, if governments fulfill their human rights obligations to persons with disabilities and ensure that their rights and perspectives are included in the design and implementation of climate solutions, this will not only enhance the resilience and dignity of the disability community, it will also benefit society as a whole."
As stated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), meeting the commitments of the Paris Agreement will necessitate urgent and unprecedented climate action. There is substantial evidence that empowering vulnerable groups like persons with disabilities is key to accomplishing this action. As climate leaders and stakeholders gather in Madrid for COP25, this report reaffirms Parties' commitments to inclusive, human-rights-centered climate action.
Since 1989, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) has worked to strengthen and use international law and institutions to protect the environment, promote human health, and ensure a just and sustainable society.
LATEST NEWS
New Poll Shows Public Support for UAW Strikes Is Growing
"Compared to the week before, when we asked the same question just after the announcement of the strike, support for the UAW strikes has risen from 55% to 62%," Data for Progress found.
Sep 25, 2023
Survey data released Monday shows that the United Auto Workers strikes have grown in popularity with U.S. voters since they kicked off 10 days ago.
A Data for Progress poll of 1,229 likely U.S. voters conducted on September 20-21 found that 62% of all voters support the UAW strikes, which expanded last week to every General Motors and Stellantis parts distribution facility in the country.
Nearly half—48%—of Republican voters support the strikes, according to Data for Progress, along with 79% of Democratic voters and 59% of Independent and third-party voters.
"Compared to the week before, when we asked the same question just after the announcement of the strike, support for the UAW strikes has risen from 55% to 62%, while opposition has dropped from 35% to 29%," noted Lew Blank, a communications associate at Data for Progress. "Notably, we find a seven percentage point increase in support among Independents and a 10 percentage point increase in support among Republicans."
Data for Progress also asked voters whether they trust President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump more to support labor unions.
Forty-four percent of all likely voters said they trust Biden and 29% chose Trump, while 21% said they trust neither.
"More than 2 in 5 Independents (42%) report that they trust neither figure more or that they don't know which one they trust more, indicating that the Democratic Party has a considerable opportunity to bolster support among Independent voters by standing alongside UAW workers," Blank wrote.
The new polling comes a day before Biden—who is seeking reelection in 2024—is set to join striking UAW members on the picket line in Michigan, a historic show of support for the union's fight for major contract improvements.
Trump, for his part, is scheduled to speak to around 500 current and former union members on Wednesday night in Clinton Township, Michigan, skipping the 2024 Republican presidential debate.
"If Trump is a friend of workers, why did his administration repeatedly do what corporate lobbyists asked for instead of what worker advocates wanted?"
With his Michigan visit, Trump—the GOP front-runner—is attempting to posture as a champion of the working class, running radio ads in Detroit and Toledo, Ohio that praise autoworkers and claim he has "always had their back."
Steven Greenhouse, a veteran labor reporter, called that narrative "appalling poppycock" in an op-ed for The Guardian on Monday.
"During Trump's four years as president, he and his administration did far more to stab workers in their backs," Greenhouse wrote. "Trump didn't lift a finger to increase the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at a pathetically low $7.25 an hour since 2009. And he certainly didn't have workers' backs when he scrapped [former President] Barack Obama's move to expand overtime coverage, thereby denying 8 million workers the ability to receive time-and-a-half overtime pay."
"If Trump is a friend of workers," Greenhouse asked, "why did his administration repeatedly do what corporate lobbyists asked for instead of what worker advocates wanted?"
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'Corruption Is Corruption': Summer Lee Joins Call for Menendez's Resignation
"We can't talk about holding Thomas and Alito accountable for selling out our freedoms for luxury vacations and private jet flights if we fail to hold a senator accountable for selling out his chairmanship," she said.
Sep 25, 2023
Pennsylvania Rep. Summer Lee has become the latest prominent Democrat to call on New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez to resign following his indictment on bribery charges Friday.
Menendez was accused along with his wife Nadine and three businessmen over a "corrupt relationship" that saw Menendez exchange political favors—including aiding the Egyptian government—for kickbacks such as cash, gold, and help with a mortgage payment.
"Senator Menendez must resign," Lee said in a statement released Monday. "Corruption is corruption. Bribery is bribery. We can't talk about holding Thomas and Alito accountable for selling out our freedoms for luxury vacations and private jet flights if we fail to hold a senator accountable for selling out his chairmanship to a dictator gifting gold bars and cash to keep military aid flowing to Egypt as its government violates human rights."
Lee has been outspoken in calling out corruption in the Supreme Court. Her statement Monday comes the day after she spoke on MSNBC about a ProPublica article, also released Friday, revealing that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had attended at least two political fundraisers organized by the Koch network.
During Sunday night's interview, host Mehdi Hasan also asked Lee about the fact that only one other senator—John Fetterman of Pennsylvania—had called on Menendez to resign.
At the time, Lee stopped short of calling for his resignation herself, saying that the people who knew him in the Senate needed to speak out. However, she also said it was important that public servants hold themselves to higher standards, especially as the Republican Party continues the descent into extremism that escalated on January 6, 2021.
"We need to be clear about the types of people who should represent us, about the standards by which we should hold them, about what they are allowed to do, their conduct. We need a code of conduct for the Supreme Court, and we also need to adhere to our own conduct, whether we're in the Senate, or the House, or anywhere else," she said.
As of Monday, Lee adds her name to a small but growing list calling for Menendez's resignation including Fetterman and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Jeff Jackson (D-N.C.), Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Mikie Sherill (D-N.J.), Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), and Andy Kim (D-N.J.)
Menendez, meanwhile, said Monday that he thought the calls for his resignation were a mistake, as The Hill reported.
"The allegations leveled against me are just that: allegations," Menendez said while speaking to supporters and reporters in Union City, New Jersey. "I recognized that this will be the biggest fight yet. But as I have stated through this whole process, I firmly believe that when all of the facts are presented, not only will I be exonerated, but I will still be New Jersey's senior senator."
However, while Lee acknowledged that Menendez had not yet been found guilty, more was at stake than his career.
"Menendez is of course owed due process, but the American people are owed trust in our institutions," she said. "Our fight against right-wing fascism depends on that trust."
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'He Cannot Be Trusted': Thomas Urged to Recuse From CFPB Case Over Koch Ties
"All justices personally close to proprietors of shady financial services firms should recuse themselves, full stop," said Revolving Door Project's Jeff Hauser.
Sep 25, 2023
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday faced mounting pressure to recuse himself from a case that experts warn "poses an existential threat" to a consumer-focused federal agency in the wake of revelations that he secretly served as an in-person "fundraising draw" for Koch network donor events.
ProPublica's Friday reporting on Thomas' Koch connections came amid heightened scrutiny of the justice's ties to billionaires with business before the court. Next week, the court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) v. Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA)—a case challenging the agency's funding structure brought by a group that represents payday lenders.
"His repeated abuse of his office for personal gain is a national disgrace."
"Clarence Thomas' close ties to the Koch network—which has spent billions trying to make it easier for corporate predators to rip off everyday Americans and face zero accountability—are grounds for his immediate recusal from the CFPB case," Revolving Door Project (RDP) senior researcher Vishal Shankar argued Monday.
"He cannot be trusted to rule impartially on matters that would financially benefit his billionaire benefactors, and by extension himself," Shankar said of Thomas. "His repeated abuse of his office for personal gain is a national disgrace."
Critics—including Democrats in Congress and watchdog groups—have called for new Supreme Court ethics policies, a U.S. Department of Justice probe, and even Thomas' resignation over recent reporting about his relationship with billionaire Harlan Crow and other rich GOP donors who have showered the justice with luxury vacations and other gifts.
Crow's "real estate empire has bankrolled the National Multifamily Housing Council—a landlord lobbying group that has opposed CFPB regulation of the tenant screening industry," RDP highlighted Monday.
"While the artificial 'Community Financial Services Association of America' is the named litigant opposite the CFPB, all observers understand that the stakes in this litigation are shared by every investor in the types of companies that profit from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices," said RDP executive director Jeff Hauser. "Just because Koch and others have used a shell organization to back this lawsuit doesn't mean that their ties to justices are any less relevant."
RDP also noted that attorney John Eastman—an ex-adviser to former President Donald Trump who was indicted in the Georgia election interference case and corresponded with right-wing activist Ginni Thomas, the justice's wife, before the January 6, 2021 insurrection—filed an amicus brief in CFPB v. CFSA supporting the payday lenders.
RDP's recusal demand echoed Accountable.US senior adviser Kyle Herrig's response to ProPublica's reporting last week.
"It's clear that Justice Thomas sees his position on our nation's highest court as a way to upgrade his own lifestyle with no regard for ethics or consequences," Herrig said Friday. "It was his own decadeslong improper financial relationship with Harlan Crow that sparked the Supreme Court corruption crisis in the first place—and that was just the tip of the iceberg."
"As ethics violations by Thomas and others keep piling up, Chief Justice Roberts' lack of action becomes more egregious," he added. "The chief justice must demand Justice Thomas recuse himself from upcoming cases with Koch network conflicts of interest. We need accountability and reform now."
As Common Dreamsreported last Monday, Justice Samuel Alito, another member of the court's right-wing supermajority, has also faced calls to recuse himself from CFPB v. CFSA, given his private jet travel with billionaire Paul Singer, whose investment management firm holds at least $90 million in financial companies overseen by the agency.
"All justices personally close to proprietors of shady financial services firms should recuse themselves, full stop," Hauser declared Monday. "And if any justices persist in hearing this case despite being self-evidently biased, the case for rebalancing the Supreme Court to create an ethical majority will become even stronger."
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