The United States Mission to the United Nations released its Progress Report last week, giving a positive outlook on future US-UN relations and US engagement on international issues. The biggest thing to take from the Progress Report is that the current administration has acknowledged that and promoted the idea that international engagement is required to meet modern threats.

"We are showing the world that a new era of engagement has begun. For we know that America cannot meet the threats of this century alone, but the world cannot meet them without America." -President Barack H. Obama, Feb. 24, 2009

More importantly, the administration has put forth the idea that America should be leading the world in international affairs and in its engagement with the UN. As the largest contributor (and host country) to the United Nations, the US should be engaging the UN in a productive way to ensure that the organization moves in a direction that will benefit all nations. The antagonistic stance taken by the previous administration towards the UN has tarnished our reputation internationally, but the Obama administration has already taken great strides to reaffirm our commitment to multilateralism.

The current United States Mission to the UN has already been focused on many issues important to Citizens for Global Solutions. Ambassador Rice has been deeply involved in efforts to resolve the conflict in Darfur and praised the ICC indictment of Sudanese President Bashir. On global climate change, President Obama announced the launching of a Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, holding the first preparatory session in Washington on April 27-28. These talks are crucial to success at the Copenhagen conference in December. Lastly, the administrations dedication to human rights was shown in running for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, an important step to reforming the organization to effectively combat human rights abuses globally.