U.S. Calls for Strong U.N. Reform

The United States Mission to the United Nations has issued a statement today that lays out how America plans to lead on U.N. reform in 2012. While the global community has long called for such reform, the statement details some progress that the U.S. has already made, reforming the U.N. budget for only the second time in 50 years, saving American taxpayers $100 million. The U.S. has also pushed for increased transparency, especially promoting public disclosure online of all internal audit reports starting in 2012.

The statement outlines how the U.S. Mission believes the U.N. can move forward on further reforms to make the U.N. more effective and efficient. They suggest several recommendations, including steps to make the U.N. more cost-effective, reduce administrative bureaucracy while increasing accountability, address issues of corruption and unfairness, and increase overall efficiency throughout the U.N. system.

The statement underlines the importance of a strong U.N. to global peace and prosperity. It affirms, "The United States has led at the U.N. since its creation because a strong, effective U.N. is among the best tools we have to tackle the world's most pressing challenges." Providing food and medicine to the world's neediest, monitoring and protecting human rights and deploying humanitarian aid following natural disasters are just a small sample of the critical work of the U.N. Strengthening and reforming the institution will hopefully help us to better cooperate and collaborate on these critical global issues. Stay tuned for my blog on Monday with additional in-depth analysis.