Un Reform

United Nations Reform in 2011

United States views on international law (based on the document “Digest of U.S. Practice in International Law”): On April 6, 2011, Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, addressed the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives on the ways in which U.S. participation in the United Nations advances U.S. national interests and the ongoing efforts to reform the UN. Ambassador Rice's statement is excerpted below and available in full at (internet link) usun.state.gov/briefing/statements/2011/160058.htm. On the same day, the State Department also issued a fact sheet on advancing U.S. interests at the United Nations that elaborated on many of the points in Ambassador Rice's statement below. The fact sheet is available at (internet link) usun.state.gov/briefing/statements/2011/160107.htm.

Developments

Internal Oversight Services and an improved ethics framework including protection for whistleblowers.

Third, we are pushing for a more mobile, meritocratic United Nations civilian workforce that incentivizes service in tough field assignments, that rewards top performers, and removes dead wood.

Fourth, we are improving protection of civilians by combating sexual violence in conflict zones, demanding accountability for war crimes, and strengthening United Nations field missions.

Fifth, we are insisting on reasonable, achievable mandates for peacekeeping missions. Not a single new United Nations peacekeeping operation has been created in the last two years, and in 2010, for the first time in six consecutive years, we closed missions and reduced the United Nations peacekeeping budget. … the U.S. leadership at the United Nations makes us more secure in at least five fundamental ways.

First, the United Nations prevents conflict and keeps nations from slipping back into war. More than 120,000 military, police, and civilian peacekeepers are now deployed in 14 operations, in places such as Haiti, Sudan, and Liberia. Just 98 of them are Americans in uniform. United Nations missions in Iraq and Afghanistan are promoting stability so that American troops can come home faster. This is indeed burden-sharing at its best.

Second, the United Nations helps halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Over the past two years, the United States led efforts that imposed the toughest Security Council sanctions to date on Iran and North Korea.

Details

Third, the United Nations helps isolate terrorists and human rights abusers by sanctioning individuals and companies associated with terrorism, atrocities, and cross-border crime.

Fourth, United Nations humanitarian and development agencies often go where nobody else will to provide desperately needed assistance. United Nations agencies deliver food, water, and medicine to those who need it most in Darfur, Pakistan, and elsewhere.

Fifth, United Nations political efforts help promote universal values that Americans hold dear, including human rights, democracy, and equality—whether it's spotlighting abuses in Iran, North Korea, and Burma or offering support to interim governments in Egypt and Tunisia.

Let me turn now briefly to the U.S. efforts to reform the United Nations and improve its management practices. the U.S. agenda broadly speaking focuses on seven priorities.

First, United Nations managers must enforce greater budget discipline. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently instructed senior managers to cut 3 percent from current budget levels—the first proposed reduction compared to the previous year of spending in ten years.

Second, we continue to demand a culture of transparency and accountability for resources and results. We aggressively promote a strengthened, independent Office of Sixth, we are working to restructure the UN's administrative and logistical support systems for peacekeeping missions to make them more efficient, cost-effective, and responsive to realities in the field.

And finally, we are pressing the United Nations to finish overhauling the way it does day-to-day business, including upgrading its IT platforms, procurement practices, and accounting procedures.

More about the Issue

But the United Nations clearly must do more to live up to its founding principles. We have taken the Human Rights Council in a better direction, including by creating a new Special Rapporteur on Iran. But much more still needs to be done. The Council must deal with human rights emergencies wherever they occur, and its membership should reflect those who respect human rights, not abuse them.

We also continue to fight for fair and normal treatment for Israel throughout the United Nations system. The tough issues between Israelis and Palestinians can only be resolved by direct negotiations between the parties, not in New York and that is why we vetoed a Security Council resolution in February that risked hardening both sides' positions. We consistently oppose anti-Israel resolutions in the Human Rights Council, the General Assembly, and elsewhere.

It goes without saying that the United Nations is very far from perfect. But it delivers real results for every American by advancing U.S. security through genuine burden-sharing. That burden-sharing is more important than ever at a time when threats don't stop at borders, when Americans are hurting and cutting back, and when American troops are still in harm's way.

UN Reform in 2013

United States views on international law [1] in relation to UN Reform: Adoption of Fifth Committee resolutions on United Nations reform

On April 12, 2013, the United States welcomed the progress at the Fifth Committee of the United Nations General Assembly on several reform initiatives it had championed over the years. The State Department issued a fact sheet, excerpted below and available at (link resource) usun.state.gov/briefing/statements/207456.htm, summarizing the Fifth Committee resolutions adopted by the General Assembly. Ambassador Joseph M. Torsella, U.S. Representative to the United Nations for United Nations Management and Reform, provided a statement on April 12, 2013 on the adoption by the General Assembly of key Fifth Committee resolutions on United Nations reform. His statement (not excerpted herein) is available at (link resource) usun.state.gov/briefing/statements/207455.htm.

Some Aspects of UN Reform

… The agreement adopted today does the following:

Agrees to make all of the internal audit reports of the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) publicly available online beginning later this year. The United States has been a major advocate for OIOS and has worked for years for the audit reports the United Nations watchdog produces to be available to the citizens of the countries the member states represent. The decision by member states to authorize public disclosure of OIOS reports, on a trial basis, through December 2014 is a landmark victory for transparency and accountability, and should become a permanent fixture at the United Nations. Taxpayers and citizens around the world are demanding of their governments more transparency and accountability and this decision helps ensure the United Nations itself maintains the standards it helps promote around the world.

Developments

Adopts most of the Secretary General's air travel reform proposals and more. Member states acted on the Secretary General's proposals to address the UN's ballooning air travel expenditures, a significant part of the overall United Nations travel budget that reached three-quarters of a billion dollars last biennium. …

Details

Embraces much needed human resources reform, including advancement of whistleblower protections. Among the critical actions taken today:

• Commissioning a comprehensive review of the United Nations compensation package and the methodology used to determine it so that the United Nations can continue to attract and retain high-quality staff while at the same making sure that staff-related costs—a major contributing factor in the UN's dramatic budget growth over the last 10 years—are sustainable.

• Authorizing the Secretary-General to continue planning his staff mobility policy, which would give him the flexibility to move staff and to execute important United Nations mandates.

• Reaffirming the importance of communication between United Nations management and staff on staff welfare issues while rejecting the need for “consensus” between them, which has negative implications for accountability and sound decision-making at the UN.

• Requesting the Secretary-General to report annually on the impact of increases in United Nations staff compensation on the financial situation facing United Nations organizations. These increases are a primary reason budgets across the United Nations system continue to be squeezed.

• Directing the Secretary-General to expedite the development of stronger whistleblower protections. The United States is committed to ensuring that those who come forward to report misconduct, fraud, and abuse are fully protected from retaliation.

UN Reform

In relation to the international law practice and UN Reform in this world legal Encyclopedia, please see the following section:

International Organizations

Resources

See Also

• International Organizations
• Un Reform

Resources

Notes

1. Un Reform in the Digest of United States Practice in International Law