By Daniel Safran-Hon, 20 August, 2009

On 12 August 2009 US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, gave a speech at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs and the Center on International Cooperation outlining the Obama Administration’s multilateral approach to the UN.

A New US Multilateralism
For the United States, Ambassador Rice explained, multilateral cooperation is an invaluable instrument in dealing with the various transnational challenges facing the US in the 21st century. She argued that one of the major challenges would be to strengthen fragile democratic states. “There can be no security without development” said the Ambassador, while noting the importance of addressing basic issues such as poverty, health and education. The UN, she argued, would be one of the main tools to promote these issues. The multilateral regime is based on reciprocity and the US needs the cooperation of other states in this system noted Ambassador Rice. For this to happen, one of the first steps would be the US setting an example of responsible leadership. “National Security is not a zero-sum game” the Ambassador added and stated that a strong UN is a US interest.

Comments about UN Reform
In explaining the choice of the US to run, successfully, for membership of the Human Rights Council, the Ambassador noted that “real change does not come from sitting on the sidelines. Real change can only come through painstaking, principled diplomacy.”

On the UN budget, she said that paying what the US owed to the UN, thereby setting a positive example, would not only be an important step towards repositioning the US in a position of leadership, but also hopefully reinvigorate the United Nations. “As we call upon others to help reform and strengthen the UN, the United States must do its part—and pay its bills,” Ambassador Rice stated. “Our dues to the United Nations are treaty obligations, and we are committed to working with Congress to pay them in full and on time,“ she added while noting that the Administration would work towards ending the practice of paying arrears to the UN and other international organizations a year late.

In reference to management reform, the Ambassador said that “we push for serious reform. All the world’s citizens deserve a UN that runs right.” In doing so, the US, she stated, would work to strengthen the UN’s ability to deliver responsibly. “It’s not enough that costs be contained and funds spent without corruption; each dollar must serve its intent.“ She remarked that the UN system must confront head-on waste and abuse even as the organization struggles to meet its new responsibilities for peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, and development. “The UN needs greater efficiency and effectiveness.” Ambassador Rice Also noted while underscoring that the aim should be “to ensure the UN has the management culture and leadership it needs to succeed.” The priorities of the US in this regard are “greater transparency and accountability, stronger ethics and oversight mechanisms, and buttressing Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s initiatives to overhaul the UN’s procurement and human resources practices.”

The Ambassador also highlighted the importance of the reform of peacekeeping operations (PKO) and gave an implicit endorsement of the “New Horizon” project lead by the Departments of Peacekeeping Operations and Fields Support. This project is aimed at strengthening operations by improving upon mandating, budgeting, deployment and reviewing. In her endorsement, she was consistent with the position she put forward at a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs’ Committee on 29 July, 2009. She noted to the audience at NYU that “UN missions have saved untold lives, averted numerous wars, and helped restore or establish democratic rule in more than a dozen countries.” But she also cautioned that the system is under severe pressure. “More than 115,000 military, police, and civilian peacekeepers are now deployed in 15 operations around the world—often in areas where there is hardly any peace to keep,” She said “So we need mission mandates that are more credible and achievable. We need peacekeeping operations to be planned expertly, deployed quickly, budgeted realistically, equipped seriously, led ably, and ended responsibly. And we need to strengthen the security sector and the rule of law in such places as Liberia and Haiti so that peacekeepers can return home certain that their missions are truly accomplished.” Ambassador Rice concluded this point by adding that the US will increase its “support to UN peacekeeping—including by being willing to contribute more U.S. military staff officers, military observers, civilian police, and other civilian personnel to UN missions and by refocusing the US Global Peace Operations Initiative on helping partner countries train their own peacekeepers."

In reference to the issue of System-wide Coherence and the anticipated reform of the UN’s Gender Structure, the Ambassador argued that “UN reform also means realizing the full potential of the majority of the world’s population: the world’s women.” Current UN instruments advancing the status of women are often uncoordinated, inefficient, and ineffective and must be strengthened she noted. “We are committed to a streamlined, empowered UN architecture to combat rape, sexual slavery, and discrimination and to secure universal rights, equality, and expanded opportunity for women. That will advance the cause of human rights, and it will advance security and prosperity as well.”

Analysis
Ambassador Rice set a high standard for the UN and its role in the international community in her speech. She also created high expectations from the US and consequentially towards President Obama’s speech in the opening of the 64th session of the General Assembly in September as well as to his administration’s approach to the UN in the future.

While the new administration has shown its reform intentions on some issues, such as PKO reform, it has yet to express and elaborate its positions on other important reform issues. Indeed, it is noteworthy that Ambassador Rice for instance did not even mention Security Council reform. Although the Ambassador has already expressed the will of the US to de-link Security Council reform from other reform issues – an indispensable, albeit very initial step towards further US engagement in the process, the Administration has yet to publicly elaborate on what an actual reform should look like.

Unless attributed to a specific source, all expressions of opinion are those of the author. The Center for UN Reform Education does not endorse any particular reform proposals.