I finished my fourth week at work. Another busy week, with a major push for ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty this week. Also, lots of sundry tasks

We held a Law of the Sea (LOS) strategy meeting on Tuesday. We brought together business, environmental, and international issues groups together to brainstorm ideas for pushing Senate Majority Leader Frist to allow a floor vote on ratification. We are trying to put together an organizational sign-on letter to Frist that we will send directly to him as well as place as an ad in Roll Call. I wrote up notes and actions from this meeting, plus acted as the coordinator for gathering signatures. By Friday evening, we had five signers, with several more potentials, and a few in the works. Next week, we’ll try to plan an action alert on LOS, tied in with our actions on Earth Day (22 April). We’ll also try to get Senate staffers and the media interested by showing how oil & gas, environmental, business, and citizen issues groups have all come together to support ratification.

As if I didn’t have enough work to do, I suggested that I draft an op-ed or some form of article to discuss the differences, if any, between genocide and ethnic cleansing. With Sudan in the news now and remembrances of Rwanda happening during this month, I thought it was appropriate to point out the problems of using the term ethnic cleansing. If you don’t invoke the term genocide, then there is no legally binding, international obligation to be involved. You can just say “Oh, sorry about the killings, but we can’t do anything. We’ll have a memorial afterwards.” Having writing my thesis about the genocides in Rwanda (called a genocide) and Guatemala (not officially called a genocide), I have a deep interest and commitment to this issue.

I distributed several contributions from our members through our PAC this week. Always interesting to be involved in this type of work. I also sent out a copy of an organizational sign-on letter (that I fax blasted last week to all Senators) to all the signers of the letter. Plus, I investigated a potential opportunity for when I’m done my internship.

I also attended a great meeting at Physicians for Social Responsibility on Thursday. The meeting was about generating grassroots support for House Concurrent Resolution 392 , which pushes for a more multilateral approach to US security policy. That was great to meet an extremely diverse group of organizations working the issue.

Next week should be very busy. I’m attending an event at the Woodrow Wilson Center where Rwandan President Paul Kagame will reflect on the genocide ten years on. I’ll also coordinate more on the LOS convention. Plus, I’ve got some content to write, and perhaps do some work with our grassroots coordinator.