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The Global Citizen: UN Reform
John Danforth, a former U.S. Ambassador to the UN (2004-05), and a Republican U.S. senator from Missouri (1976-94) just published an excellent article in USA Today laying out why it is in the United States' interest to stay engaged in the UN.
He says that while Congress has been debating whether to limit contribution to the UN, the real debate is:
"how we can best influence the institution to accelerate the adoption of reforms while not shutting down the organization's work, decreasing U.S. influence, and costing American taxpayers more money."
His bottom line is this:
"Cutting or limiting our funding, particularly at a time when the world is facing a number of global challenges, can only handicap U.S. diplomacy and give our adversaries a stronger hand."
After Election Day 2010, one frequently repeated analysis was that this election was not about foreign policy. Voters’ minds were focused mostly on domestic issues such as the economy and unemployment, and weren’t giving much thought to America’s relations with the world outside our borders. However, the dramatic shift in power in Washington, DC means that some new members coming to Congress, and some current members taking on new roles, may have a profound impact on the United States’ engagement with the United Nations, International Criminal Court (ICC), and other multilateral organizations which Citizens for Global Solutions strongly supports.
In a recent visit to India, President Obama announced U.S. support for India taking a seat on the United Nations Security Council. A second announcement centered on U.S. backing of India’s membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group. While these developments indicate a stronger tie between the world’s two largest democracies, they open up questions about Obama’s other initiatives as well as what this will mean for next steps in ensuring reform.
Thursday January 14th, 2010 - A message from Executive Vice President, Bob Enholm
Support the UN Central Emergency Response Fund:
Support the People of Haiti
The world is watching anxiously and with a heavy heart as the residents of Haiti struggle to cope in the aftermath of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that rocked the island nation two days ago. At Citizens for Global Solutions our thoughts are with the people of Haiti including the citizens of Haiti, the families of Haitians across the world, and UN peacekeepers and other international staff who have suffered tremendous losses on the ground.
This month, Pope Benedict XVI released an encyclical letter, Caritas in Veritate, to bring Catholic social teaching up to date on ethical responsibilities. Among the gamut of issues he covered, he talked about the United Nations and the need for reform within it.
President Obama held a news conference on the morning of July 10, 2009, to wrap the three-day G-8 summit, held in the Italian city of L'Aquila.
Last week, the Center for American Progress (CAP) released Congress and the United Nations: How to a Build a Better Relationship and Move Forward on Needed U.N. Reforms. The report states:
Today I attended a presentation by pollster, Steven Kull who just released an eighteen nation survey showing that publics around the world "favor dramatic steps to strengthen the United Nations."
Most of the publics seemed way ahead of their governments. For example, a majority of people believe that the U.N. not only should authorize force to protect people from "severe human rights violations such as genocide, even against the will of their own government, but that the U.N. had a responsibility to do so. This included nations as diverse as Armenia, China, France, India, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Poland.
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