Better World Campaign 2013 Briefing Book

DEDICATED TO A STRONG U.S.–UN RELATIONSHIP

The United States and the United Nations in the 113th Congress 2013 Briefing Book

Dear Colleague: The 113th Congress, with 97 new members of the House and Senate, takes office facing some of the most difficult domestic and international challenges in history. The Better World Campaign (BWC) and United Nations Association of the USA (UNA-USA) have developed a briefing book to provide you with information on the critical work of the United Nations and how it benefits the United States. While much has changed in the world over the past two years, the UN remains a critical partner for the United States as it seeks to create a more secure, prosperous, just, and healthy world.

The UN is not a perfect institution, but it serves a near-perfect purpose: to promote global cooperation to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges that no single country can resolve alone. By allowing our nation to share the burden of promoting international peace and stability with the rest of the international community, U.S. engagement with the UN helps buttress American interests and values around the world—from sub-Saharan Africa to the Western Hemisphere.

Among other things, the UN is a platform for joint efforts to counter terrorism, stem nuclear proliferation, and, through peacekeeping missions, to maintain order in some of the world’s most dangerous places so U.S. forces don’t have to deploy. The UN also plays a leadership role on a range of international humanitarian, economic, and social issues—providing vital emergency aid in the wake of conflicts or natural disasters, addressing the root causes of poverty through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), coordinating global responses to public health challenges, and promoting democratic governance and respect for human rights. In addition, through the international norms-setting work of its specialized agencies as well as the activities of the UN Secretariat in New York, the UN directly benefits American business interests.

For these and many other reasons, it is absolutely critical that our nation maintain its seat at the table by engaging constructively with the UN. That means paying our peacekeeping and regular budget dues on time, in full, and without conditions. While it may be tempting—given the difficult budgetary choices we currently face—to cut back on our international commitments, reducing funding to the UN will not solve our nation’s fiscal challenges. In fact, doing so may lead to increased U.S. expenditures in certain areas, while simultaneously imperiling UN programs that play a vital role in advancing key American foreign policy and national security objectives. The American people understand this reality very well—indeed, according to recent research by a bipartisan polling team, approximately eight in ten voters say it is important for the U.S. to maintain an active role within the UN, while more than two-thirds favor paying our UN dues on time and in full.

We hope you find the enclosed briefings helpful, and invite you to call us or visit our websites at betterworldcampaign.org or unausa.org to obtain additional information. We look forward to working with you in the future to advance a strong U.S.-UN relationship.

Sincerely,

Peter Yeo Patrick Madden Executive Director Executive Director Better World Campaign United Nations Association of the USA

2013 Briefing Book

table of contents 1 About Us

About BWC & UNA-USA

2 The Value of the UN

Delivering Around the Clock The UN: Benefiting the U.S. Economy Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

9 Economic and Social Issues

Providing Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster Relief Millennium Development Goals: The Post-2015 Process UN Human Rights Mechanisms Building Democracy Confronting Global Climate Change

20 Peace and Security Issues

UN Peacekeeping: Promoting Stability Around the World The UN Mission in Afghanistan The UN Missions in the Sudans The UN Mission in Haiti The UN Mission in Liberia Preventing Nuclear Proliferation Fighting International Terrorism

37 U.S.-UN Priorities for 2013 U.S. Dues & Contributions to the UN Recent Reforms at the UN Key International Agreements

46 Appendix I: Key UN Institutions The UN Security Council The UN General Assembly The UN Secretariat

53 Appendix II: The UN System UN Funds & Programs UN Specialized Agencies Americans in the UN

The United States and the United Nations during the 113 th Congress

About The Better World Campaign & UNA-USA

A Program of The United Nations Foundation

Our Missions The Better World Campaign (BWC) works to foster a strong, effective relationship between the United States and the United Nations to promote core American interests and build a more secure, prosperous, and healthy world. BWC engages policymakers, the media, and the American public alike to increase awareness of the critical role played by the UN in world affairs and the importance of constructive U.S.-UN relations.

The United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) is a grassroots organization with 125 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide devoted to strengthening the U.S.UN relationship through public education and advocacy. For more than six decades, UNA-USA and its chapters and regions have stood at the forefront of building American support for the UN. Together, the Better World Campaign and UNA-USA represent the single largest network of advocates and supporters of the UN in the world.

2013 Agenda Each year, BWC and UNA-USA build support for U.S. policies that reinforce U.S. engagement in the United Nations and educate people about the real benefits the U.S. receives through our relationships with the UN. So that the UN can better address the transnational challenges of the 21st century, we will work with the Administration and Congress in 2013 to: • Ensure payment of our nation’s UN regular budget and peacekeeping dues on time, in full, and without conditions; remove the arbitrary, Congressionally-imposed peacekeeping cap; and reverse the 1980s budget gimmick of paying U.S. dues a year late.

• Promote greater U.S. assistance to UN peacekeeping operations to strengthen each mission’s capabilities in logistics, training, doctrine, and management expertise.

• Spotlight the value of UN specialized agencies in enhancing American interests; build support for fully funding their crucial mandates; and realize the restoration of funding for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

• Further constructive engagement on structural and management reforms at the UN and the continued implementation of ongoing reforms.

• Encourage active U.S. participation in the UN Human Rights Council.

• Promote advancement of the Millennium Development Goals.

• Advocate for Senate passage of key international agreements that the U.S. has signed but not ratified, such as the Conventions on the Law of the Sea, the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Comprehensive NuclearTest-Ban Treaty.

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2013 Briefing Book

The Value of the UN

Timor-Leste Holds Second Round of Presidential Election A United Nations helicopter drops off election day materials and personnel for polling centres in Sibuni and Atudara, remote areas in Timor-Leste, in advance of the second round of presidential elections.

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The United States and the United Nations during the 113 th Congress

Delivering Around the Clock Every day, around the clock, the United Nations and its family of agencies work to create a more secure, prosperous, and healthy world. With little fanfare or media attention, the UN does everything from providing humanitarian aid to victims of war and natural disasters; monitoring compliance with multilateral sanctions against rogue states and terrorist organizations; resolving conflicts and promoting stability in some of the world’s most volatile regions; and supporting free and fair elections and the creation of effective, responsive government institutions in countries transitioning to democracy. The UN’s work in these areas promotes fundamental American values and advances our nation’s core foreign policy, national security, and economic objectives.

Furthermore, by working through the UN and sharing the financial burden for achieving these goals with other members of the international community, U.S. interests are advanced at a lower cost than if we attempted to carry out these activities on our own.

Promoting Peace and Democracy • The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) oversees the second largest deployed military in the world, with over 110,000 military, police, and civilian personnel deployed on 14 peacekeeping missions in places like South Sudan, Darfur, Haiti, and Liberia. Each day, UN peacekeepers work tirelessly to end violence and promote stability by supporting the implementation of peace agreements, demobilizing combatants, facilitating humanitarian aid, and creating conditions for political reconciliation and free and fair elections. These activities are a boon to U.S. interests, as they help promote our nation’s foreign policy and national security goals and core values without requiring the commitment of U.S. troops. They are also extremely cost-effective, as other UN member states bear nearly three-quarters of their costs, and UN missions overall are eight times cheaper than U.S. forces acting alone.

• The UN also operates a number of civilian-based political missions in countries emerging from conflict. The two largest of these missions, located in Iraq and Afghanistan, are currently working to support reconstruction efforts, deliver humanitarian and development assistance, facilitate free and fair elections, and encourage the development of capable and accountable government institutions. With the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and the ongoing drawdown of NATO forces from Afghanistan, these activities are taking on even greater prominence in promoting the long-term stability and viability of these countries.

• The UN Development Program (UNDP) and UN peacekeeping operations support, on average, one free and democratic election somewhere in the world every two weeks. In recent years, the UN has facilitated elections in South Sudan, Cote d’Ivoire, Haiti, Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, and Libya, helping millions of people around the world exercise their democratic rights.

Curbing the Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons • The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) implements international nuclear cooperation agreements and monitors nuclear safeguard agreements in more than 150 countries.

For nearly a decade, the IAEA’s monitoring activities in Iran have played a pivotal role in bolstering U.S. and international efforts to curb that country’s nuclear ambitions. Since November 2011, the IAEA has issued several reports detailing the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program. The Agency’s Director-General has called on Iran to allow inspectors access to a military facility alleged to have been involved in nuclear related explosives testing, and the IAEA Board of Governors has voted overwhelmingly on several occasions to condemn Iran for failing to curb uranium enrichment and clarify the intentions of these activities.

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• In 2010, as a result of strong U.S. leadership, the UN Security Council voted to establish the toughest ever sanctions faced by Iran. These sanctions, which targeted not only the country’s nuclear activities, but its ballistic missile program and conventional military as well, provided a legal platform for the U.S., EU, Japan, and other countries to enact additional measures against the Iranian government. The cumulative impact of these multilateral and bilateral sanctions have deepened Iran’s international isolation and seriously affected its economy, thereby sharpening the choices of the Iranian government regarding its nuclear program.

Expanding the Reach of U.S. Counterterrorism Efforts • In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the Security Council adopted Resolution 1373, requiring countries to criminalize terrorism financing, freeze the financial assets of terrorists and their supporters, and cooperate with other governments in the arrest and prosecution of individuals involved in terrorist activities. Resolution 1373 also established the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, which works to bolster the ability of UN Member States to fight terrorism through the facilitation of counter-terrorism technical assistance to these countries.

• The Security Council’s Al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committees play a prominent role in advancing U.S. national security interests by monitoring the implementation of UN-backed financial, travel, and weapons sanctions aimed at members of Al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Providing Vital Humanitarian Assistance • UN humanitarian agencies deliver lifesaving aid to millions of people affected by conflict and natural disasters every year. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) coordinates assistance to more than 36 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) worldwide and facilitates their eventual resettlement or return home. The World Food Program (WFP), the world’s largest humanitarian organization devoted to fighting hunger, provides food aid to an average of nearly 100 million people in 73 countries annually. With a focus on immunization, early childhood development, education, and HIV/AIDS, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) provides long-term humanitarian and development assistance to children and mothers.

Responding to and Eliminating Outbreaks of Infectious Disease • UNICEF supplies vaccines to more than 58 percent of the world’s children. Over the last 30 years, UNICEF and WHO have increased the percentage of people worldwide who are vaccinated against preventable diseases from 5 percent to 85 percent.

• Every year, the WHO investigates 200 to 250 disease outbreaks. In 2003, WHO helped stop the spread of SARS before it could reach and infect tens of thousands of people. In 2009 and 2010, WHO steered efforts to contain the spread of the H1N1 virus. In 1980, WHO became the only entity to ever eliminate a major worldwide disease: smallpox.

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The United States and the United Nations during the 113 th Congress

The UN: Benefitting the U.S. Economy For more than six decades, U.S. engagement with the UN has advanced America’s core interests and values on the world stage. Perhaps less obvious is the fact that in addition to these larger strategic considerations, the U.S. also derives significant economic benefits from the work of the UN. In fact, for every $1 our nation contributes each year as part of our regular budget and peacekeeping dues to the UN Secretariat—the institution responsible for carrying out the dayto-day work of managing the UN’s general operations globally—we receive more than $1.60 back in contracts for U.S.-based businesses and returns to the New York City economy. In light of the difficult budgetary choices currently facing our country, this level of return on our investment is truly noteworthy.

Procurement of American Goods & Services In 2011, the UN Secretariat, which includes the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and other core UN offices, purchased more than $865 million worth of goods and services from nearly 3,900 American companies based in locations as diverse as Parsippany, NJ, Miami, FL, and Redlands, CA. Companies that have contracted with the UN include such pillars of the U.S. economy as Ford Motor Company, Caterpillar, and CISCO, providing everything from vehicles to engineering and electronic equipment to support UN field missions and other activities. American businesses benefit from the UN in a variety of ways, including through: • The Capital Master Plan: The Capital Master Plan (CMP) is a five-year project to renovate UN Headquarters in New York so it complies with current standards for security, energy efficiency, and accessibility. The CMP was undertaken because the headquarters complex– most of which is nearly six decades old–has deteriorated significantly in recent years, falling below modern building code standards. As a result, the buildings were unable to adequately accommodate and protect the thousands of employees, dignitaries, guests, and tourists that pass through the UN compound every day.

Construction began in 2008, and American companies have so far been awarded 83 of the 86 contracts associated with the project, providing an infusion of $2.1 billion into the U.S. economy over five years. As part of our assessed dues for the CMP, determined by the proportion of the UN regular budget we pay, the U.S. has contributed $377 million to cover direct costs of the project during that period. As a result, for every $1 we invest in the CMP as part of our dues payments, the U.S. economy gets back nearly $5.57.

• UN Peacekeeping Operations: In 2011, U.S.-based companies received $192 million in contracts to support 15 UN peacekeeping missions on four continents. American contractors are on the ground in places like Haiti, Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Liberia supporting these critical missions through the provision of telecommunications lines, information technology services, earthmoving machines, and building materials, among other crucial supplies.

Benefiting the Big Apple New York City benefits greatly from the daily business of UN headquarters, with one past estimate putting the Big Apple’s total annual economic gain from the UN’s presence at $3.3 billion.

Visitors attending UN conferences held in New York infuse millions into the city’s economy, with the annual opening of the General Assembly session alone generating revenue comparable to a major international convention or sporting event. This type of annual conference is not affected by economic recessions, so these large expenditures will be made each year, which can be especially beneficial in a difficult economy. Finally, the UN plays an important role in boosting New 5

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York’s tourism industry. The world body hosts an average of more than 1 million visitors each year, providing business to local hotels and restaurants.

UN Specialized Agencies: Advancing American Business Interests In addition to benefiting from UN contracts, the interests of American businesses are also advanced through the work of a number of UN specialized agencies that help the global economy run smoothly. By establishing international standards and regulations in sectors such as telecommunications, aviation, shipping, and postal services, these agencies create baselines for security and efficiency in international commerce, which in turn help American companies compete abroad. The work and functions of several of these agencies are described below.

• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO): WIPO encourages American innovation and economic growth through the registration and protection of patents, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property, as well as through the adjudication of cross-border disputes on intellectual property. Dozens of major American companies have sought out WIPO’s dispute resolution services as an alternative to costly court proceedings, including the American Automobile Association, Apple, North Face, Costco, and Facebook. Moreover, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of 57 NGO observers at WIPO, nearly 19 million Americans are employed in IP-intensive industries, and therefore depend on WIPOadministered IP protection activities.

• UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO): UNESCO promotes global peace and security, scientific innovation, and intercultural dialogue through programs in five major areas: education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information. Among many other activities, UNESCO manages the World Heritage list, which includes 962 sites of outstanding natural or cultural significance, 21 of which are located in the United States (including Yellowstone, the Everglades, and the Statue of Liberty). Designation as a World Heritage Site attracts foreign tourists, who generally stay longer and spend more than domestic tourists. This, in turn, supports jobs and economic development in the communities surrounding these sites.

• International Telecommunication Union (ITU): The ITU helps facilitate the connectivity and interoperability of the world’s telecommunications networks, which is of critical importance to the U.S. telecommunications industry and American defense and intelligence communications capabilities. By allocating radio spectrum and satellite orbits, as well as developing technical standards to ensure that networks interconnect seamlessly, the ITU’s work helps make communicating possible even in some of the world’s most remote locations.

• International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO): ICAO enables safe air travel everywhere by setting global standards for navigation, communication, and airline safety. These standards map out airspace jurisdiction and establish “free range” airspace over oceans and seas. This agency also sets international standards for limiting environmental degradation and works to strengthen aviation security by conducting regular audits of aviation security oversight in ICAO member states.

• International Maritime Organization (IMO): The IMO sets international safety standards for ships, ports, and maritime facilities, develops ship design and operating requirements, and leads global efforts to prevent maritime pollution. Standards promulgated by the IMO are central to the health of the U.S. economy, as more than 90% of all international trade is carried on ships, and the vast majority of ships that call at U.S. ports have foreign crews and are registered under foreign flags. IMO also works with member states to address security threats to the international shipping industry, including piracy and terrorism.

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The United States and the United Nations during the 113 th Congress

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon first took office as Secretary-General of the United Nations on January 1, 2007. In June 2011, Mr. Ban was reappointed by the UN General Assembly to a second five-year term, which will run until the end of 2016. Ban’s reelection was strongly supported by the United States.

Prior to his service at the UN, Secretary-General Ban spent many years in the South Korean foreign ministry, where he gained substantial experience traveling the world and working on various international issues. Since first taking office, Secretary-General Ban has prioritized several key issues: UN reform and transparency, development, women’s empowerment, peace and security, and climate change.

UN Reform and Transparency Secretary-General Ban has led several important reform initiatives at the United Nations. He streamlined UN operations for greater efficiency, splitting the UN DepartPortrait of Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon ment of Peacekeeping Operations into two departments: Portrait of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in front of one to plan and implement peacekeeping mandates and the United Nations Headquarters in New York. the other to provide logistical and administrative support services to all UN field operations, including non-peacekeeping political missions such as that in Afghanistan. The Secretary-General also spearheaded the development of the Global Field Support Strategy (GFSS) to strengthen and expedite the UN’s delivery of support to missions in the field, yielding better results and cost efficiencies.

The GFSS has already led to $250 million in savings in the current peacekeeping budget, and is likely to deliver additional cost savings as other aspects of the initiative are implemented over the coming years. The Secretary-General also spearheaded an improved approach to addressing sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) among peacekeepers, such that NATO consults with UN officials on how best to deal with its own SEA matters.

Secretary-General Ban has made UN operations more transparent. He supported the efforts of the UN’s independent watchdog agency, promulgated a strict code of ethics for UN employees, encouraged financial disclosure by senior leadership, and ensured whistleblower protection within the UN system. More recently, the UN decided that internal audit reports issued by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) would be made publicly available online, a move the U.S. Mission to the UN called “a turning point in how the UN does business.” He is currently bringing the UN’s administrative practices into the 21st century with new techniques, technology, and training. He has also moved the UN from print to electronic distribution of its documents and publications, resulting not only in a wider audience but also reduced printing costs.

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) With just a few years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the MDGs, Secretary-General Ban has emphasized the importance of achieving these crucial anti-poverty measures and prioritizing the world’s poor in the midst of the global economic crisis. In 2010, the Secretary-General convened a high-level MDG Summit during the General Assembly, which pro7

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duced a concrete global action plan to achieve the MDGs by 2015. A large number of heads of state and government participated, as well as leaders of civil society, the private sector, and the philanthropic community.

In addition to accelerating progress on the MDGs, the Secretary-General has also made defining the world’s development agenda beyond 2015 a key priority for his second term. While maintaining a focus on fulfilling current development goals, the Secretary-General has also mobilized the UN system to assess lessons learned from the current framework, so that the post-2015 framework will both build on the momentum of the MDGs and address the new challenges of today.

Women’s Empowerment Secretary-General Ban spearheaded the creation of UN Women, which was unanimously approved by the General Assembly in July 2010 and started operations in January 2011. UN Women consolidated into one unified entity the work of four UN bodies focusing on gender equality and women’s empowerment. This new agency has given women’s issues a stronger voice, while simultaneously reducing overlap and encouraging greater financial efficiency within the UN system. The Secretary-General’s commitment to prioritizing women’s issues is also evident in his UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, a multi-year initiative to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls around the globe.

Responsibility to Protect Throughout his tenure, Secretary-General Ban has strongly supported the Responsibility to Protect, a principle established at the UN’s 2005 World Summit, which calls on the international community to help protect civilians from genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity when a state fails to protect its own people. Over the past few years, the Responsibility to Protect, or “R2P”, as it is often called, has been cited in Security Council resolutions on South Sudan, Yemen, and Libya, and played a large role in the international community’s effort to protect civilians in Côte d’Ivoire last year. Considered one of the “fastest moving norms” in history, R2P will undoubtedly comprise an important part of the Secretary-General’s legacy.

Climate Change Secretary-General Ban has called climate change “the defining challenge of our age.” From the beginning of his tenure, he has made clear that combating climate change is one of his signature priorities. The Secretary-General was instrumental in bringing nations together for the December 2007 Bali conference, which formulated a roadmap for a comprehensive climate change action plan to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expired in 2012.

During the 2010 UN climate talks in Cancún, the Secretary-General solidified the “building blocks” approach to the climate change negotiations – the idea that progress can be made toward a comprehensive global deal through agreements to take immediate action to reduce emissions, including national actions. The Cancún Agreements, endorsed by 193 countries, reaffirmed key elements of the 2009 Copenhagen Accord and advanced measures on deforestation, technology cooperation, adaptation, and finance. This new, bottom-up approach paved the way for additional agreements in future negotiations on topics such as energy efficiency, renewable energy, and the reduction of powerful warming agents such as methane, refrigeration gases, and black carbon from diesel engines and cookstoves. In 2011, UN climate negotiations in South Africa produced the “Durban platform,” an agreement to reach a legally-binding climate treaty by 2015, which would become effective in 2020. The agreement is notable because for the first time developing countries such as China and India are included.

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Economic and Social Issues

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Children displaced on the Libyan border Tunisia, May 2011: Children enter a UNICEF-supported tent school at the Shousha transit camp on the Libyan border. The camp hosts some of the 427,000 people who have entered Tunisia to escape the growing conflict in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. UNICEF is working to establish schools and child-friendly spaces for evacuees. The mass exodus from Libya has created emergency conditions in several bordering countries. ŠUNICEF/Heifel Ben Youssef

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Providing Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief For millions of people, the United Nations is the world’s ‘911 service’ in the aftermath of major natural disasters or conflicts - a first-responder and essential provider of food, shelter, supplies, medical assistance, and education in times of crisis. Given its high degree of international legitimacy, capacity, and operational reach, the UN is uniquely positioned to coordinate these types of relief efforts. Throughout 2012, UN humanitarian and specialized agencies like the World Food Program (WFP), UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and World Health Organization (WHO), among others, responded to man-made and natural crises in places as diverse as Syria, South Sudan, the Sahel, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, helping millions of people in the process. Provided below is a synopsis of the UN’s work in these and other regions over the past year.

Syria: As humanitarian conditions both inside Syria and for Syrian refugees in neighboring countries have deteriorated over the last two years, the UN has been at the forefront of international efforts to aid the country’s battered civilian population. The WFP, for example, is working to provide in-kind food distributions, food vouchers, or hot meals to nearly 2.5 million people in Syria and tens of thousands of refugees in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, and Iraq. UNHCR is providing shelter, clothing, mattresses, fuel, cash assistance, and other essential items to Syrians affected by the fighting, as well as assistance to host communities who have been generous in sharing their own scarce resources with refugees. UNICEF is working to reach 1.3 million Syrian children with clean water, sanitation, first aid supplies, and educational support. In addition, UNICEF has teamed up with the WHO to vaccinate children under the age of five, who are unable to access medical care due to the fighting, against measles and polio.

South Sudan: Beginning in July 2011, in response to instability concerning the independence of South Sudan the UN Security Council, led by the U.S., authorized two UN peacekeeping missions to operate in the region. The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is working to stabilize South Sudan, protect civilians from violence, train the new country’s new police force, and support efforts to strengthen the capacity of its government. The UN Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA), on the other hand, is deployed to the oil-rich border region of Abyei, claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, where it has successfully kept the parties apart after major fighting broke out there in 2011.

In addition to the critical work of these peacekeeping missions, UN agencies have stepped up to meet a host of humanitarian challenges facing the South Sudanese people. WFP has been working to provide food aid to nearly 2.7 million vulnerable South Sudanese, keep children healthy and in the classroom through school feeding programs, and build roads to promote economic development and improve access to basic services in remote rural areas. UNHCR has been assisting nearly 200,000 people who have fled to South Sudan from the Sudanese regions of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, moving refugees from dangerous border locations to new settlements, as well as providing shelter and other relief supplies. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is focused on the longer term development of the country’s agricultural sector, distributing seeds, providing training in improved farming methods, and safeguarding the livelihoods of herders through the provision of cattle vaccinations.

The Sahel Region: The humanitarian situation in Africa’s Sahel region, which covers a massive swath of territory from Chad to Senegal, has deteriorated markedly since early 2012, spurred by environmental and economic factors including drought, floods, a poor harvest, and rising food prices. The March 2012 coup in Mali and subsequent take-over of the northern two-thirds of that country by extremist Islamist groups has added to the crisis, forcing more than 400,000 people 10

Jordan Camp Host to Thousands of Syrian Cross-Border Refugees A woman and child at Za’atri refugee camp, host to tens of thousands of Syrians displaced by conflict, near Mafraq, Jordan.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the camp as part of a two-leg trip to Jordan and Turkey to assess the Syrian refugee situation in those countries.

from their homes. As a result, UN agencies are working to help more than 18 million people in the region at risk of food insecurity. WFP is operating emergency food distribution centers and administering school feeding programs, UNICEF is providing critically needed medicines to under-supplied health facilities and water purification tablets to refugees, and FAO is distributing seeds, corn, animal feed, and other staple items to vulnerable households.

Democratic Republic of the Congo: For nearly two decades, the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have witnessed significant levels of violence and instability stemming from the presence of numerous armed groups and a general lack of central government control in the region. In April 2012, an armed insurrection mounted by several hundred men who defected from the Congolese army led to a new round of fighting and human rights violations in the region, with civilians bearing the brunt of these atrocities. Peacekeepers serving under the auspices of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) have mounted operations to protect civilians under threat of violence and curb the activities of rebel groups in the region. In addition, UN agencies have scaled up their already extensive operations in the eastern DRC to meet the needs of nearly 800,000 people displaced by the fighting. In spite of difficult and often dangerous operating conditions, WFP is providing emergency food rations and vouchers to individuals whose lives have been up-ended by the conflict, and UNHCR is managing camps for internally displaced persons and providing these individuals with core relief items and basic services. In addition, the WHO was on the ground working to help the Congolese government monitor, control, and raise public awareness of deadly outbreaks of cholera and ebola in the eastern provinces.

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Millennium Development Goals: The Post-2015 Process In 2000, all UN member states committed to the eight UN Millennium Development Goals, which aim to significantly reduce extreme poverty and disease, put the world on the path to greater environmental sustainability, and enhance international coordination around development by 2015.

The first and only international framework for improving the human condition of the world’s poor, the MDGs have made a huge impact in the lives of billions, but action must be accelerated in order for the world to achieve such targets by 2015 and beyond.

The Eight Millennium Development Goals

Progress on the MDGs • With the UN leading the way, global poverty continues to decline, with the proportion of the world’s population living in extreme poverty (on less than $1.25 per day) declining by more than ½ between 1990 and 2010. During that same period, nearly two billion people gained access to improved sources of drinking water, and nearly 200 million people living in urban slums in developing countries have gained access to safer water sources, improved sanitation facilities, or more durable or less crowded forms of housing.

• The enrollment of children in primary school in developing countries has increased significantly, benefiting girls especially. Between 1999 and 2010, enrollment rates for children of primary school age increased in sub-Saharan Africa from 58% to 76%.

• The world has also made progress on efforts to reduce child mortality, with the annual number of deaths of children under five years of age falling by more than four million. In addition, the global mortality rate from malaria has declined by 25%, and nearly 6.5 million people in developing countries are now receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS. The last decade has brought remarkable improvements in people’s lives. Nevertheless, progress on the MDGs has been uneven within regions and countries, and there have been various setbacks to further gains in recent years, including the global financial crisis, rising fuel and food prices, and a number of natural disasters. As a result, it is critical that the international community continue to work with urgency to achieve these development objectives. As always, strong U.S. engagement and support will be vital as we approach the 2015 deadline.

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Post-2015 Development Framework The UN, national governments, and civil society have convened a process to identify development priorities following the expiration of the MDGs in 2015. A new bold and inspirational framework will build on the momentum of the current MDGs and will reflect new development challenges, with the fight against poverty and promotion of sustainable development at its core.

The Secretary-General appointed a High-Level Panel, co-chaired by the heads of state of Indonesia, Liberia, and the United Kingdom, in July 2012 to advise on this new framework. Placing emphasis on an open and inclusive process, there have already been global thematic consultations with civil society and other partners. Based on recommendations from the High-Level Panel, working group on the Sustainable Development Goals, and the wider global conversation, UN member states will begin their negotiations in 2013 or early 2014, with the aim of having an agreement on the next MDGs framework in 2015. While the priorities of the world’s next development framework remain to be fleshed out, a few key consensus points are clear: • Ongoing challenges–on poverty, hunger, health, gender equality, sanitation and many other issues–will still need attention after 2015. Accelerating MDG progress and preparing for the post-2015 development framework are all part of the same effort.

• The framework must be concrete, inspirational and must address the diverse challenges that the world faces today. It will result from a truly open and inclusive process that integrates the perspectives of people worldwide and from all segments of society.

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UN Human Rights Mechanisms The United States has a long history of supporting United Nations human rights mechanisms, beginning with our deep involvement in founding the United Nations and our efforts to ensure that the organization would hold the promotion of human rights as one of its core pillars. Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt led the effort to develop the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is the first document in human history to spell out the basic civil, political, economic, and social rights that all human beings should enjoy. The United Nations works to defend and promote human rights through three key mechanisms within the UN system: • Human Rights Treaties: Over the past six decades a number of human rights treaties have been adopted to further develop international human rights standards, including the protection of women’s rights, the rights of the child, and the rights of those with disabilities.

• Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): OHCHR works to promote and protect all human rights in the field by monitoring and reporting on human rights violations and strengthening the capacity of national institutions to provide adequate human rights protection. In addition, it provides administrative support to the Human Rights Council and advises the Secretary-General on human rights matters. Most of OHCHR’s activities are funded through voluntary contributions from UN member states.

• Human Rights Council (HRC): The Human Rights Council is the only global intergovernmental body addressing human rights; it is composed of 47 member states, elected for three year terms by the General Assembly and based on equitable geographical distribution. The Council meets several times throughout the year, passing resolutions on individual human rights situations (such as Burma), ordering inquiries into allegations of human rights violations (such as Syria), and appointing special rapporteurs – independent experts - on a range of subjects to investigate particular countries or thematic human rights issues.

The United States and the Human Rights Council In June 2006, the United Nations General Assembly created the Human Rights Council to replace an earlier human rights body which had been criticized as ineffective, politicized, and biased against Israel. Initially, the United States declined to run for a seat on the new body, and in its early years the Council struggled to fulfill its mandate to promote and protect internationally recognized human rights. The Council’s work was unduly focused on Israel and characterized by antagonistic relationships among regional blocs of states. The failings of the Council threatened to diminish the cause of human rights worldwide.

In 2009, however, the United States changed course, successfully running for a seat on the Council with the goal of changing the body’s dynamics. Specifically, it sought to do so by using U.S. diplomacy and influence to help the Council live up to its potential and focus on the most important human rights challenges. In 2012, following an active first-term, the U.S. ran for and won a second three-year term on the Council.

The first three-year term of the U.S. on the Council produced tangible, positive outcomes on a number of core American human rights policy objectives. For example: • The Council took a consistently strong line on the crisis in Syria, holding four special sessions and adopting nine resolutions sharply criticizing the Syrian government for its actions throughout the conflict. The Council also established an independent International Commission of Inquiry on the human rights situation in Syria, which has helped gather evidence against specific Syrian officials for their involvement in “crimes against humanity.”

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The United States and the United Nations during the 113 th Congress

• The U.S. collaborated with other Council members to establish a mandate for a special rapporteur to scrutinize the human rights situation in Iran.

• The efforts of U.S., other UN members, and civil society groups in opposing Sudan’s candidacy for a seat on the Council led to Khartoum’s withdrawal from the election in the face of certain defeat.

• The Council created a new mechanism to fight discrimination against women and to provide expertise to governments that seek advice on improving the opportunities available to women and girls.

• The Council broke new ground in passing a resolution on human rights related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

• The U.S. supported a pioneering resolution on Internet freedom, which called for protecting the freedom of expression both online and offline.

• The Council’s Universal Periodic Review Mechanism, which measures the human rights records of all UN members, achieved full UN member state participation during its first cycle.

While U.S. membership has also allowed the U.S. to better support Israel and reduce the imbalance in the Council’s work, there is still an inordinate amount of focus on Israel and some of the most serious situations of violations around the world are unaddressed or are inadequately addressed due to institutional and political obstacles. As a result of these ongoing challenges, effective U.S. diplomacy remains as necessary as ever.

Recommendations for Strengthening Human Rights Mechanisms • Maintain Funding to the HRC: Congress should maintain funding to the UN budget for the HRC. Proposed funding restrictions have no impact on the performance of the HRC; they only serve to withhold a percentage of our contributions to the UN regular budget, thus increasing the amount of our debt to the United Nations and ceding ground to states willing to make such investments to undermine, rather than promote, a stronger human rights system.

• Promote Competitive HRC Elections with the General Assembly: The U.S. delegation to the UN should strongly advance the need for competitive HRC elections among other regional groups and UN member states. In 2012, the U.S. participated in the Council’s first-ever competitive election as a part of the Western European and Others Group, running against Germany, Greece, Ireland, and Sweden for just three Council seats. Promoting competitive elections – rather than closed ‘clean’ slates – is one of the best ways to ensure that those countries that best promote and protect human rights can gain Council membership.

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Secretary-General and Aung San Suu Kyi Brief Press Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) and Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Prize-winning political activist and General Secretary of Myanmar’s National League for Democracy (NLD), brief the press following a meeting at her residence in Yangon.

Building Democracy Democracy promotion has a very prominent profile at the United Nations, and democratic values and principles are infused in many of the UN’s peacebuilding and development efforts. The UN’s international legitimacy and broad membership gives it a unique advantage in promoting the spread of democratic governance, providing all member states with a stake in ensuring the success of emerging democracies. As such, the UN is pursuing a number of initiatives that seek to foster democracy globally, including facilitating elections in countries emerging from conflict or transitioning to democracy, building democratic institutions and promoting the rule of law, and funding local projects that strengthen civil society and spread democratic ideals.

UN Initiatives in Democracy Building Facilitating Free and Fair Elections: Since 1991, the UN has helped people in more than 100 countries emerging from conflict or transitioning to democracy exercise their fundamental right to vote. While UN election assistance has historically taken on several forms, from monitoring electoral processes and validating results to even, in some rare cases, actually organizing or supervising elections, nowadays the UN largely plays a supporting role, assisting a country’s own electoral authorities as they plan for and carry out elections. This assistance includes the provision of critical technical and logistical support to national authorities in a number of areas, including advice on electoral administration and the reform of election laws, procurement and distribution of election materials like ballots and registration kits, voter and civic education efforts, and election security.

Peacebuilding Commission: Created jointly by the UN Security Council and General Assembly in 2005, the UN Peacebuilding Commission is an advisory body that works to focus attention, marshal resources, and propose integrated strategies that support peace consolidation and re16

The United States and the United Nations during the 113 th Congress

covery in post-conflict countries. The ultimate goal of the Commission—which focuses on everything from security sector reform, to disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration efforts, to supporting free and fair elections, to stimulating economic growth and addressing youth unemployment—is to support activities that will help prevent countries from relapsing into conflict over the long run. The work of the Commission is complemented by the Peacebuilding Fund, which seeks to establish a bridge between conflict and recovery when other funding mechanisms may not yet be available. The U.S. currently does not contribute to the Fund, which is financed entirely through voluntary contributions from UN member states.

Democracy Fund: Created at the urging of the Bush Administration in 2005, the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) finances projects that strengthen democratic institutions and empower civil society organizations in emerging democracies around the globe. UNDEF operates entirely on voluntary contributions from governments, and it has enjoyed widespread financial support from member states, including the U.S.

UN Democracy Promotion Efforts on the Ground Tunisia: Tunisia helped spark pro-democracy demonstrations in countries throughout the Arab world when its longtime dictator, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, was ousted in January 2011. On October 23, 2011, Tunisia achieved yet another key milestone when it became the first of these countries to hold free and peaceful elections. At the request of Tunisian authorities, the UN provided critical support to the government, civil society groups, and political parties at every step of the electoral process, providing technical assistance during the election’s planning stages, helping develop and implement a comprehensive public information strategy to educate and motivate prospective voters, and promoting the role of women by training female candidates to conduct successful campaigns. Over all, nearly 76% of registered voters turned out on Election Day to choose a 217-member Constituent Assembly which is now working to draft a new constitution, making this a watershed moment in Tunisia’s ongoing transition to democracy.

Liberia: The UN has played a central role in promoting stability and consolidating democracy in Liberia since its emergence in 2003 from a disastrous civil war. In 2005, the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia (UNMIL) helped facilitate a landmark presidential election that brought Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf—Africa’s first female head of state—to office. When Liberia held its second post-conflict national election in late 2011, the UN was once again on hand to help, working to ensure the timely delivery of voter registration materials to some of the country’s most remote and inaccessible locations, allowing 1.8 million Liberians to register to vote. The UN also played an instrumental role in training poll workers and supporting voter education efforts, and sought to promote the participation of women, both as voters and as candidates for office, throughout the electoral process. In addition, UN peacekeepers remained an important guarantor of security in the country, helping to prevent an escalation of violence during a brief outbreak of unrest following the vote.

Cote d’Ivoire: The UN peacekeeping mission in Cote d’Ivoire (UNOCI) played a crucial role in administering democratic presidential elections in 2010, providing logistical and technical assistance and deploying 7,000 troops to ensure security at polling stations across the country. Following the presidential run-off election in November of that year, incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to his opponent, Alassane Ouattara, whom the United Nations certified as the winner. During nearly five months of political violence that followed, UNOCI protected President Ouattara’s nascent government from attack by armed supporters of Mr. Gbagbo, and in doing so helped preserve the integrity of the democratic process and promote the rule of law in that country.

Today, the UN continues to promote democratic consolidation in Cote d’Ivoire, recently supporting parliamentary elections that were largely free from violent disruption.

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View of Collins Glacier in Antarctica View of the melting Collins Glacier in Antarctica, showing the effects of climate change.

Confronting Global Climate Change Brief History Over the last 200 years, the world has increased the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and disrupted the earth’s climate by extracting and using fossil fuels (oil, gas, and coal) and changing how land is used (especially deforestation). In response, in 1992, the international community agreed to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This treaty committed signatories to avoiding dangerous human interference with the climate system and reducing emissions commensurate with their levels of development. President George H.W. Bush signed the treaty, and the Senate immediately ratified it. In 1997, 170 countries adopted an implementing agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, which called on developed countries to reduce their emissions by 5 to 7 percent from 1990 levels by 2012.

The U.S. was the only nation that signed but did not ratify the Protocol.

Scientific Consensus In 1988, the World Meteorological Organization and the UN Environment Program formed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to establish a strong scientific basis for policy on climate change. The IPCC – comprised of hundreds of climate experts from leading academic and research institutions worldwide – has released four Assessment Reports, each expressing increasing certainty about the human contribution to climate change and warning of the likely consequences if the world does not respond. In 2007, the IPCC received the Nobel Peace Prize for its work.

Controversy arose in 2009 when a handful of relatively minor mistakes were discovered in the most recent assessment. Several official investigations were conducted, all of which validated the scientific rigor of the assessment, causing several media outlets to issue retractions. Additionally, the UN and the IPCC requested that the InterAcademy Council – an organization of the world’s top science academies – review the IPCC’s work and suggest improvements to the panel’s review process. The Council’s August 2010 report found that the IPCC’s procedures were sound, but that they could be strengthened and made more transparent. Since then, specific 18

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recommendations from the IAC have been adopted, including requiring IPCC authors to use consistent terminology to qualitatively describe uncertainties, and cross-checking more thoroughly the authenticity and robustness of data and information taken from ‘grey literature’ that has not been peer reviewed.

In 2014, the IPCC will conclude its current cycle of work and publish its Fifth Assessment Report on Climate Change. At the end of October 2014, international negotiators will gather in Copenhagen to adopt and approve a synthesis report and a summary for policymakers. This statement will be an important opportunity to further explain climate change, the impacts it is having, and the damage it will do.

The United Nations’ Role The United Nations is addressing global climate change by raising awareness of the issue, promoting research and forging scientific consensus to address it, mobilizing a global policy response through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and helping countries adapt to the impacts of a warming climate.

In 2011, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched a global initiative, called “Sustainable Energy for All,” to mobilize action from all sectors of society to address the two principal challenges posed by global energy use: that some people lack access to modern sources of energy, stunting their development; while others use too much dirty energy inefficiently, causing the Earth’s climate to warm. The initiative is responding to these challenges by promoting three objectives to be achieved by 2030: providing universal access to modern energy services; doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency; and doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. To date, more than $50 billion in public-private commitments have been made to the initiative’s three objectives, and 65 developing countries have agreed to participate.

UN Climate Negotiations The 2010 UN climate talks in Cancún solidified the “building blocks” approach to the climate change negotiations – the idea that progress can be made toward a comprehensive global deal through agreements to take immediate action to reduce emissions, including national actions.

The Cancún Agreements, endorsed by 193 countries, reaffirmed key elements of the 2009 Copenhagen Accord and advanced measures on deforestation, technology cooperation, adaptation, and finance. This new, bottom-up approach paves the way for additional agreements in future negotiations on such topics as energy efficiency, renewable energy, and the reduction of powerful warming agents such as methane, refrigeration gases, and black carbon from diesel engines and cookstoves.

In 2011, UN climate negotiations in South Africa produced the “Durban platform,” an agreement to reach a legally-binding climate treaty by 2015, which would become effective in 2020.

The agreement is notable because for the first time developing countries such as China and India are included.

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Peace and Security Issues

Ballots Delivered to Displaced Haitians ahead of Presidential Elections A UN Police officer provides security at a camp for displaced Haitians in Port-au-Prince, where ballots were delivered ahead of Haiti’s 28 November presidential elections.

The United States and the United Nations during the 113 th Congress

UN Peacekeeping: Promoting Stability Around the World The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) oversees 14 peacekeeping missions with more than 110,000 personnel, including troops, police, and civilians, constituting the second largest deployed military force in the world. UN peacekeepers are tasked with stabilizing some of the world’s most volatile and underdeveloped countries, protecting civilians from violence, monitoring the implementation of peace agreements, disarming, demobilizing, and reintegrating former combatants, facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance, training national police forces, and supporting free and fair elections and the development of democratic governing institutions. Because of their diverse membership (116 countries contribute uniformed personnel to UN missions and all UN member states are required to contribute financially to these activities) and adherence to the UN Charter, UN peacekeeping operations enjoy a level of international legitimacy that unilateral and coalition efforts do not.

Given its position as a permanent, veto-wielding member of the Security Council, no UN peacekeeping operation can be deployed, expanded, or withdrawn without U.S. consent. Over the past twenty years, both Republican and Democratic Administrations have used this perch at the Security Council to champion new missions with more complex mandates. Nevertheless, in spite of the central role played by Washington in the decision to dispatch peacekeeping forces, our nation provides very few uniformed personnel to these missions, and other countries pick up nearly three-quarters of their costs.

The Benefits of UN Peacekeeping Advances Core American Interests and Values: Countries undergoing conflict threaten the national and economic security of the United States, risk becoming safe havens for terrorists and criminal organizations, and often feature levels of human rights abuses and deprivation that are an affront to the values of the American people. By preventing the collapse of fragile states, facilitating reconciliation and democratic consolidation, and rebuilding communities torn apart by war or natural disaster, UN peacekeeping plays a critical role in advancing many of our nation’s core values and strategic interests on the world stage. It is therefore little wonder that the U.S. has actively used its position on the Security Council to help authorize a nine-fold increase in the number of UN peacekeepers serving around the world since 1999.

Prevents Conflict Resurgence and Promotes Growth: A study conducted by former Ambassador James Dobbins of the RAND Corporation comparing the outcomes of eight U.S.-led nation-building missions and eight UN-led peacekeeping operations found that the UN had a higher success rate. Overall, of the eight U.S.-led cases, only four had achieved peace; conversely, seven of the eight UN-led peacekeeping missions examined by Ambassador Dobbins were determined to be at peace. The study identified the UN’s decision making apparatus, unified command and control structure, and high-level of international legitimacy as major advantages of its peacekeeping operations. In addition, a more recently published study by Columbia University found that, in the post-Cold War era, deploying UN peacekeepers reduces the hazard that a country will slide back into all-out war by 50%.

Besides decreasing the likelihood of a resurgence of conflict, peacekeeping has also been shown to bolster GDP growth in conflict-affected areas. Indeed, one recent report found that in the first three years after a conflict, UN peacekeeping missions have a substantial effect on GDP, with annual growth rates nearly 2.4% higher in post-conflict countries where peacekeeping missions are present.

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Saves Money: UN peacekeeping is one of the most cost-effective tools for stabilizing fragile states and rebuilding societies emerging from conflict. According to a study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), deploying UN peacekeepers is eight times less expensive than fielding a comparable U.S.-led force. This point was reiterated by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who stated that: “[UN Peacekeeping] is much more cost-effective than using American forces. And of course, America doesn’t have the forces to do all of these peacekeeping missions, but somebody has to do them.”

Promotes Global Burden-Sharing: The U.S. cannot ensure international security alone, nor should it have to. By drawing upon the economic and human capacities of all UN member states, UN peacekeeping helps the U.S. share the burden of protecting international peace and security and reduces the need for unilateral intervention, thereby keeping U.S. soldiers out of harm’s way and saving American financial resources in the long run. Indeed, while the U.S. plays a critical role in crafting and authorizing all UN peacekeeping mandates as a permanent member of the Security Council, we currently provide less than 150 uniformed personnel to these operations, and other nations cover the vast majority of their costs. The importance of UN peacekeeping in promoting international burden-sharing was highlighted by Admiral Mike Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who wrote that, “[United Nations] peacekeepers help promote stability and help reduce the risks that major U.S. military interventions may be required to restore stability in a country or region. Therefore, the success of these operations is very much in our national interest.”

Challenges Facing UN Peacekeeping Limited capacity: The UN has no standing army or police force. As a result, with every authorization of a new mission, DPKO must solicit sufficient troops, supplies, transportation, and funding from UN member states. As former UN Secretary-General and head of UN peacekeeping Kofi Annan put it, this process is akin to having to build a fire station after the fire breaks out.

Furthermore, to deploy, a peacekeeping mission always requires the consent of the host country, which, as the case of Sudan demonstrates, is not always easy to obtain.

Lack of a ‘peace to keep’: As demands on peacekeeping increase, peacekeepers are deploying into increasingly dangerous and difficult situations, sometimes in cases where the conflicting parties have not even reached a peace agreement. According to several studies on peacekeeping, including a past report by veteran diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, UN peacekeepers should only set up in areas where a credible peace exists. To do otherwise undermines both the effectiveness of peacekeepers and their perceived legitimacy.

Undermanned and underfunded: The RAND study found that the size and deployment of UN peacekeeping forces is often based on unrealistic best-case scenarios; for example, the current UN peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) operates with about onethird as many troops as NATO started with in Bosnia, even though the UN peacekeeping troops are spread out over an area that is nearly one-quarter the size of the United States, lacks paved roads and other forms of basic infrastructure, and is teeming with well-armed militias. Furthermore, the quality of UN peacekeeping troops is uneven and declining as many Western nations with sophisticated militaries, such as the U.S., have decreased the number of troops they contribute to UN operations over the past two decades. Nations have also been unwilling to provide critical enabling assets like helicopters, an absolute force requirement for operations in vast remote places like South Sudan, Darfur, and the DRC, and assets that only Member States can provide.

Underfunding UN Peacekeeping: As it considers the UN’s budget, Congress must recognize that failing to fulfill our obligations to UN peacekeeping takes necessary resources from field missions -- not from UN headquarters; that means the countries we rely on to deploy soldiers are not compensated for their efforts. This not only undermines U.S. credibility but also endangers the fundamental viability of critical missions in places like South Sudan and Haiti.

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The UN Mission in Afghanistan Following the start of U.S.-led military operations in Afghanistan in 2001, the UN Security Council established the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), a special political mission tasked with assisting reconstruction efforts in the war-ravaged country, providing vital humanitarian and development assistance to the Afghan people, encouraging stable, responsive, and effective governance, and facilitating democratic elections. Given how closely these activities dovetail with larger American priorities for Afghanistan, the U.S. government, through both the Bush and Obama Administrations, has strongly supported the work of the UN mission, and coordinates closely with it on the ground. As the U.S. military continues to draw down its troop levels in the country over the next two years and hand responsibility for security over to Afghan forces, the UN’s efforts to help build a more stable and viable Afghanistan will assume even greater prominence.

Facilitating the Transition to Representative Government Since its inception in 2002, UNAMA has been working to help Afghanistan build functioning, democratic governing institutions and better entrench the rule of law. In that vein, the UN has also been working to support free and credible elections in the country by providing technical, operational, and financial assistance to strengthen the capacity of Afghan electoral authorities.

As a result of these activities, led by the UN Development Program (UNDP), more than 400,000 new voters were registered and the participation of women was increased during the country’s 2010 parliamentary elections. Currently, UNDP is working to support Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) ahead of the 2014 presidential elections, particularly as it seeks to improve the voter registration process and further broaden participation among women. As this will be the first post-Taliban election where President Hamid Karzai will not be standing as a candidate, the 2014 polls will be a significant political milestone for Afghanistan.

Providing Humanitarian Relief and Development Assistance Despite continued insecurity in Afghanistan, the UN and its family of humanitarian, global health, and development agencies, including the World Food Program (WFP), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Development Program (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and others, administer a variety of programs to help the Afghan people. Their work includes: • Immunizing nearly 8 million children under the age of five against polio in Afghanistan, which is one of only three countries in the world where the disease remains endemic; • Constructing and rehabilitating more than 6,000 miles of roads across the country, which in turn has created jobs and improved infrastructure in rural areas; • Providing access to safe drinking water for nearly 1.6 million people; • Helping more than 4.6 million Afghan refugees return home over the last decade and providing assistance to promote their reintegration into society; • Providing food aid to several million vulnerable Afghans through a variety of means, including vouchers that help energize local economies and strengthen small farmers by allowing the poor to purchase food in local markets; • Providing vocational training to several hundred thousand Afghans, primarily women.

Promoting the Rights of Women Working with NGOs and the Afghan government, UNAMA monitors and promotes respect for human rights in Afghanistan, particularly with regard to the ongoing challenges faced by women in that country. For example, UNAMA works with Afghan authorities and civil society to support 23

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implementation of the country’s Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) law, enacted in 2009 to criminalize child marriage, forced marriage, and acts of violence against women. While gender-based violence remains widespread in Afghanistan and instances of abuse are seriously under-reported, the number of cases of violence against women reported to authorities has increased in recent years, and instances of prosecutors and courts applying the law have gone up as well. Besides supporting implementation of the EVAW law, the UN has taken on a number of other projects to curb violence against women, assist victims, and improve the status of women in Afghan society. For example, UN agencies support shelters and legal aid centers to help victims of domestic violence; has provided training to Afghan religious leaders to change traditional mindsets about the treatment of women; and helped train female students in IT skills in partnership with CISCO.

Addressing Security UNAMA has worked to make Afghanistan safer for its civilians and U.S. and international forces, facilitating the removal of more than 40,000 heavy and light weapons, clearance of more than 18,000 battlefield areas of landmines and unexploded ordnance, and disbanding of 312 illegal armed groups. UN-backed reintegration initiatives are also working throughout Afghanistan to help former combatants renounce violence and become productive members of society. As of mid-November 2012, nearly 6,000 ex-insurgents had enrolled in the Afghan Peace and Reintegration Program, which receives technical and operational support from UNDP.

Supporting Counter-Narcotics Efforts Afghanistan produces nearly 90% of the world’s opium supply, feeding an international narcotics market and posing a serious threat to security in the country. To address these challenges and promote the rule of law in Afghanistan, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is working to strengthen the country’s Counter Narcotics Police and provincial law enforcement authorities; enhance border control management to improve interdictions of drugs and other illicit materials; increase the institutional capacity of the Afghan justice system and strengthen measures to fight human trafficking; and help oversight bodies within the Afghan government improve their ability to fight corruption.

In addition, UNODC and the UN Development Program (UNDP) provide educational and alternative livelihood opportunities to opium farmers to help them transition to other agricultural commodities and break their dependence on opium.

Female Students in Afghanistan School Female students attend class at the Sultan Razia High School in the Balkh province.

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UNMISS’ Mongolian Troops in Unity State A Mongolian troop with the UN’s mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) smiles for the camera with a local boy in Bentiu, Unity State.

The UN Missions in the Sudans Throughout the Bush and Obama Administrations, the U.S. and the UN have stood at the forefront of international efforts to resolve conflict in Sudan and South Sudan. As a member of the Security Council, the U.S. has helped craft the mandates of three UN peacekeeping missions currently operating in the region: the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), the UN Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA), and the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). As part of these missions, thousands of peacekeepers are on the ground working to help make South Sudan secure, governable, and economically viable; maintain the fragile peace that currently exists between Sudan and South Sudan in the disputed region of Abyei; and ensure that civilians in the Darfur region of western Sudan are protected from violence. A more in-depth discussion of these missions is provided below.

UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) In 2005, after more than 22 years of conflict between the Sudanese government and rebels based in southern Sudan, the parties signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), negotiated with the support of the UN, U.S., and other members of the international community. In addition to ending the long-running civil war—which cost more than two million lives and drove an additional 4.5 million people from their homes—the CPA called for a referendum to determine the future political status of south Sudan. In January 2011, 99% of south Sudanese voted to secede from the north, and in July of that year, South Sudan officially became an independent country.

Despite its newly attained status, however, South Sudan faces a number of serious challenges.

Persistent tensions between the two Sudans over unresolved issues from the CPA—including border demarcation, sharing of oil revenues, and other political and economic issues—have threatened to boil over since independence. South Sudan also faces a number of internal obstacles, such as containing insecurity; dealing with influxes of refugees from the north; building stable, effective, and democratic governing institutions; and facilitating long-term development.

As a result, in July 2011, the Security Council voted to establish UNMISS to help build the security and stability necessary to ensure progress on these challenges. Among other activities, UNMISS peacekeepers are working to: 25

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• Promote Stability and Protect Civilians. Inter-ethnic fighting and attacks by militias remain a serious threat to security in South Sudan. In 2011 and 2012, for example, an explosion of inter-ethnic strife in South Sudan’s Jonglei state left hundreds dead and 120,000 more displaced. UNMISS has a civilian protection mandate, empowering peacekeepers to protect civilians “under imminent threat of physical violence.” To fulfill this responsibility, UNMISS has deployed additional troops to population centers in trouble spots to deter attacks, conducted regular air patrols and other surveillance activities to provide civilians with early warning of possible strikes, and evacuated civilians in need of emergency medical treatment from conflict zones. In order to assist the mission’s stabilization activities, the U.S. deployed five military advisors to UNMISS in 2012 to help with strategic planning and operations in volatile regions like Jonglei.

• Support Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) Efforts. UNMISS is working to support DDR programs in South Sudan, where former fighters surrender their weapons and receive counseling, skills training, and other forms of support that allow them to make a successful transition to civilian life. These initiatives are a key component of the mission’s overall stabilization efforts, and UNMISS currently aims to reach nearly 150,000 ex-combatants. UNMISS also works with the South Sudanese army to remove child soldiers from its ranks.

• Strengthen South Sudan’s Security and Justice Sectors and Promote the Rule of Law: One of UNMISS’s core responsibilities is to support the development of effective security and justice institutions that promote the rule of law. In keeping with that mandate, there are hundreds of UN police advisors working to strengthen the capacity and professionalism of South Sudan’s police force. As part of these efforts, UNMISS has conducted training courses for more than 5,000 police officers, is developing community policing programs to provide better security at the local level, and created a screening and registration process for police and corrections officers to enhance transparency and accountability. UNMISS is also advising and supporting larger efforts by the South Sudanese government to carry out an inclusive constitutional process, hold elections, and promote women’s participation in public life.

United Nations Interim Force for Abyei (UNISFA) One of the most contentious unresolved issues from the CPA concerns the future status of Abyei, an oil-rich region that straddles the border between Sudan and South Sudan and is claimed by both countries. During the spring of 2011, Abyei was the scene of intense clashes and looting after the Sudanese army launched a major assault on South Sudanese forces in the area, leaving hundreds dead and forcing 110,000 residents from their homes. In response, the UN Security Council voted to deploy UNISFA to help restore peace in the disputed territory. Currently, UNISFA is working to: • Promote Stability. While tensions between Sudan and South Sudan over Abyei remain high, UN peacekeepers have been instrumental in restoring calm to the region since their initial deployment in June 2011. UNISFA oversaw the complete withdrawal of Sudanese and South Sudanese forces from Abyei in May 2012, and continues to carry out monitoring activities to prevent the entry of unauthorized armed groups. UNISFA has also worked to reduce tensions between the Ngok Dinka, an ethnic group that inhabits Abyei and is aligned with South Sudan, and the Misseriya, a nomadic people from Sudan who also claim the region. Specifically, UNISFA has been working to create buffer zones between the two groups and engage with leaders of both communities to mitigate the potential for violence.

• Locates and clears unexploded ordinance (UXO) and landmines. UNISFA and the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) are working to remove landmines and other dangerous explosives left over from the conflict from civilian areas, particularly health facilities, schools, and water points. Demining efforts have allowed thousands of people who fled the violence in Abyei to return to their homes in recent months.

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UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) Beginning in 2003, the Sudanese government, backed by local Arab militia known as the Janjaweed, launched a bloody campaign against rebel groups in the western Sudanese region of Darfur. Since then, the UN estimates that nearly 300,000 Darfuris have been killed, primarily in the first two years of the conflict, and that a further two million have been driven from their homes.

In 2007, the UN Security Council voted to deploy UNAMID to replace a relatively smaller and weaker AU-led force that had been sent to the region in 2006. While there has been an overall decline in violence in Darfur over the last several years, and some displaced civilians have begun to return to their homes in certain areas, the region remains highly volatile, and the continued presence of peacekeepers is critical to its security. Tasked with a number of responsibilities, UNAMID is currently working to: • Facilitate Humanitarian Assistance. After more than a decade of violence, there are still nearly 1.4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) throughout Darfur who depend on aid in order to survive. As a result, one of UNAMID’s primary mandates is to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance from UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs to IDPs and other Darfuris in need.

Among other things, the UN provides shelter materials, medical supplies and health care, food aid, and sanitation facilities for individuals living in IDP camps. Given Darfur’s aridity, UNAMID has carried out a number of projects to help communities in the region gain access to water.

• Provide Security for the Populace. UNAMID works to protect Darfuri civilians, conducting an average of 200 patrols every day, including escorting women living in IDP camps while they gather firewood or water in order to prevent rape and sexual abuse. In response to recent upswings in violence in certain parts of the region, UNAMID has increased its presence in these hotspots and dispatched rapid response teams to improve their ability to protect civilians.

• Support Women’s Empowerment. UNAMID supports efforts to protect and improve the status of women in Darfur, placing a particularly strong emphasis on combating cases of sexual and gender-based violence. UNAMID also supports the work of UN agencies, including the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which aids women’s centers in Darfuri IDP camps. These centers offer skills training and income-generating activities, general educational opportunities, and health care to female IDPs.

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The UN Mission in Haiti The UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, known by its French acronym MINUSTAH, was first established in 2004 to help stabilize the country and support a democratic transition after an armed insurrection forced then-President Bertrand Aristide into exile. Unfortunately, international efforts to promote development and stable governance in Haiti—the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country—were dealt a tragic setback on January 12, 2010, when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated the capital of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. Nearly 300,000 people were killed, 1.5 million were displaced, and key government institutions and infrastructure were destroyed. In addition to the heavy losses suffered by the Haitian populace, 102 UN personnel were killed in the earthquake—including the head of MINUSTAH, his deputy, and the acting UN police commissioner in Haiti—making it the single largest loss of life in the history of UN peacekeeping.

Despite the sheer magnitude of the devastation, the United Nations, United States, and the rest of the international community quickly mobilized to help the Haitian people, providing humanitarian assistance to 4.3 million people and temporary shelter to hundreds of thousands left homeless by the quake. Three years later, the UN remains committed to helping the Haitian government and people address the numerous challenges that remain to rebuilding and stabilizing their country.

MINUSTAH Achievements In the aftermath of the earthquake, the Security Council voted to expand MINUSTAH, authorizing the deployment of an additional 3,500 soldiers and police to ensure security and support relief operations. While, as a result of recent advances in stability and reconstruction, MINUSTAH is currently in the process of drawing down this post-earthquake surge, the work of the peacekeeping mission and other UN entities in Haiti is far from over, and remains critical to the country’s future recovery and development. Among other activities, the UN is working to support: • Community Rehabilitation: Since the 2010 earthquake, the UN has been working to support reconstruction efforts. In collaboration with the Haitian government and other international partners, the UN Development Program (UNDP) has helped clear more than 80% of the rubble left over from the earthquake through cash for work programs and other initiatives, which created temporary employment for 400,000 Haitians, 40% of whom were women. The UN has also helped find housing solutions for nearly 160,000 families left homeless by the disaster, and continues to support efforts to revive earthquake-affected neighborhoods by rebuilding and repairing houses and roads. UN agencies have also been working to clean irrigation and drainage channels to prevent flooding, a persistent problem in the hurricane-prone nation.

• Improving Security: In order to lay a firm foundation for future political stability and economic development, it is essential for Haiti to possess a functioning and professional criminal justice system and police force. As such, one the core pillars of MINUSTAH’s mandate is restructuring and strengthening the Haitian National Police (HNP). Since 2004, MINUSTAH has helped recruit, vet, and train more than 10,000 police officers, and is currently working to further expand the force to 15,000 by 2016. As part of these efforts, MINUSTAH provides training on sexual and gender-based violence, human rights, criminal procedures, and investigation techniques to members of the HNP. In coordination with the U.S., MINUSTAH is also working to strengthen the capacity of the HNP to combat drug trafficking, as Haiti remains a major transit point for cocaine and heroin bound for the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

While important advances have been made in efforts to build up and professionalize the HNP in recent years, the force is still not yet ready to assume full responsibility for internal security in the country. As a result, MINUSTAH’s military and police personnel continue to serve as a vital guarantor of stability and public order, conducting hundreds of patrols each day throughout Haiti. MINUSTAH is particularly focused on providing protection and facilitating humanitarian relief to the more than 350,000 people who remain in camps for internally 28 displaced persons (IDPs).

MINUSTAH Military Personnel Assists Hurricane Victims Members of the Jordanian battalion of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) carry children through flood waters after a rescue from an orphanage destroyed by Hurricane “Ike”.

• Democratic Governance and the Rule of Law: In addition to the police, MINUSTAH is working to support and strengthen other Haitian rule of law institutions. MINUSTAH has helped train judges, prosecutors, clerks, and judicial police officers, as well as rebuilt and equipped court houses, prison facilities, and legal aid offices that were destroyed or damaged by the earthquake. MINUSTAH has also played an important role in facilitating the electoral process in Haiti, providing technical and logistical support and security during two rounds of presidential and legislative elections in November 2010 and March 2011. Currently, the UN is gearing up to help the country prepare for partial legislative and municipal elections later this year.

• Humanitarian Assistance: Every day, with the help of MINUSTAH, UN humanitarian and health agencies work to provide lifesaving relief throughout Haiti. The World Food Program (WFP), for example, is working to provide food aid to more than 1.3 million beneficiaries this year, including 685,000 children who receive a nutritious, hot meal every day at more than 2,000 schools across the country. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) distributes school supplies, teaching materials, and other educational items to more than 750,000 children and 16,500 teachers, helping a record number of Haitian children attend primary school. In 2012, the UN, the Haitian government, and humanitarian NGOs led a nationwide vaccination campaign during which three million children under the age of 10 were inoculated against polio, measles, and rubella.

Confronting the Cholera Epidemic Since it first appeared in Haiti in October 2010, more than 600,000 people have fallen ill and nearly 8,000 have died from cholera. Since then, the fight against cholera has been a priority for the UN and its partners in Haiti, with the UN system spending more than $118 million on various prevention and treatment efforts to date. Among other activities, MINUSTAH and UN agencies continue to distribute water treatment products throughout the country; support the establishment, upgrading, and maintenance of cholera treatment centers; upgrade water and sanitation facilities at schools; promote awareness among hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren about cholera prevention; and train health care workers on treatment of the disease. In December 2012, Secretary-General Ban announced a new UN-led initiative to eliminate cholera from Haiti and the Dominican Republic over the next decade. The plan seeks to promote expanded access to clean water and sanitation, as well as the provision of cholera vaccines to people living in high-risk areas.

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The UN Mission in Liberia Liberia, a country of four million people in West Africa, was founded in 1821 by freed American slaves with the help of the U.S. government. Due to these historic ties, the U.S. has long been invested in the creation of a more stable, democratic, and prosperous Liberia.

UN peacekeeping activities in Liberia were first initiated in 1993 in response to a long-running and brutal civil war between the Liberian government and then-rebel leader Charles Taylor. The UN Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL), created by the Security Council to monitor compliance with a UN-backed peace accord and oversee national elections, was composed of just over 360 military personnel at its height. After repeated delays, Taylor was elected President of Liberia in 1997, and the Security Council authorized UNOMIL’s withdrawal.

Shortly thereafter, however, civil war resumed due to ongoing issues of political exclusion, lack of national reconciliation, an unprepared security sector, and continued regional instability. During this time, the Bush Administration made facilitating a stable democratic transition in Liberia a priority. In September 2003, following the resignation of Charles Taylor under international pressure and the signing of a peace agreement between both sides, the Security Council once again turned to UN peacekeepers to help secure Liberia, reform its security sector, and facilitate free and fair national elections. This time, however, the Security Council provided a much more robust force to accomplish these objectives, authorizing 15,000 military personnel, 1,100 police, and a substantial civilian component to serve as part of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).

Since its initial deployment, UNMIL has been successful in achieving the goals set out for it in 2003, with the International Crisis Group calling them “the main guarantor of peace” in the country. With the UN’s help, Liberia held historic elections in 2005 which saw Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf become the first democratically-elected female President on the African continent. During the most recent round of post-conflict general elections held in the fall of 2011, Ms. Sirleaf, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was reelected to a second term.

In light of the important strides Liberia has made towards stability and the strengthening of national institutions in recent years, the Security Council has authorized UNMIL to draw down its troop levels. Nevertheless, the peacekeeping force continues to play a critical role on a number of issues, including: • Facilitating Democratic Elections: The holding of credible democratic elections and consolidation of stable, effective governing institutions are critical components of ongoing efforts to sustain Liberia’s post-conflict recovery. In 2005, UNMIL helped organize landmark presidential elections that brought Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a former economist at the World Bank, to office as Africa’s first democratically-elected female head of state. UNMIL facilitated another round of presidential and legislative elections in late 2011, providing logistical support for the delivery of voter registration materials to some of the most remote areas of the country. These efforts ultimately resulted in the registration of 1.8 million people, representing 89% of all registered voters in the country, of whom 49% were women. UNMIL also served as a key guarantor of security throughout the electoral process, including helping to prevent a brief escalation of violence following the second round of voting in November 2011 from spinning out of control.

• Ensuring Long-Term Stability through Security Sector Reform: Another core component of UNMIL’s mandate has been supporting the creation of a transparent, trustworthy, accountable, and effective Liberian security sector. To achieve this, UNMIL has been working to build up and reform the Liberia National Police (LNP), training officers in emergency response procedures, protection of women and children, criminal investigation techniques, 30

The United States and the United Nations during the 113 th Congress

and management. UNMIL has also sought to improve the representation of women in the LNP, who now make up 17% of the total force. In addition to its work with the country’s police force, UNMIL has also sought to promote stability by helping to disarm, demobilize, and reintegrate into society more than 100,000 former combatants from the country’s civil war.

• Working to Improve the Status of Women: UNMIL’s responsibilities include a specific mandate to help support and empower women by working with local and international partners to advance their participation in government and civil society. In addition to its efforts to increase the recruitment and training of female police officers, the UN is also working to support women’s political participation, having carried out educational and training seminars for 400 aspiring female candidates during the run-up to the 2011 elections. The UN is also supporting efforts by the Liberian government to develop comprehensive legislation to curb domestic violence, and has worked to raise public awareness about gender-based violence.

• Promoting Growth Through Stability: Efforts by UNMIL, the wider international community, international NGOs, and Liberians themselves to strengthen security and democratic governance have led to greater stability in Liberia, which in turn has benefited the impoverished country’s economy. In fact, between 2003, when the civil war ended and UNMIL was first deployed, and 2011, Liberia’s GDP increased by more than 277%, with annual growth rates usually hovering between 9% and 16%. In addition to improving economic prospects for Liberia itself, this growth has created new opportunities for American commercial interests in the region. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2003, total U.S. exports to Liberia totaled just $33 million, and there existed a substantial trade deficit. Beginning from that year, however, bilateral trade has grown, with U.S. exports rising to nearly $250 million in 2012 – a 27% increase over the previous year’s total alone. This figure is also higher than the amount the U.S. pays each year in assessed dues for UNMIL.

UNMIL Women Officers Participate in Medal Parade

31 Women officers of the Formed Police Unit of the Indian contingent of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) participate in a medal parade held in honour of their service.

2013 Briefing Book

IAEA Fact-Finding Mission Assesses Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Fact-Finding Mission in Japan, visit the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to assess tsunami damage and study nuclear safety lessons that could be learned from the accident.

The team’s international experts from 12 nations visited three Japanese nuclear power facilities.

Preventing Nuclear Proliferation The United Nations serves as a key international platform from which countries can work together to stem the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The UN General Assembly, the Security Council, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) all provide venues for countries to share resources and information, create frameworks for addressing breaches of international agreements, and build unified fronts against rogue states like Iran. As a result, the UN is a critical asset to American nuclear non-proliferation priorities and ensuring that these types of weapons do not fall into the wrong hands.

The UN’s Core Nuclear Non-Proliferation Mechanisms • Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT): The NPT commits states to preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technologies while at the same time working towards nuclear disarmament. All but four countries are parties to this treaty.

• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): The IAEA, a UN agency which reports to both the General Assembly and the Security Council, verifies member state compliance with the NPT and other nonproliferation agreements by monitoring and inspecting nuclear facilities and material to ensure their peaceful use.

• Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT): The CTBT, ratified by 157 UN member states, obliges parties not to detonate nuclear weapons or support those who do. The United States has signed but not ratified the CTBT.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty In recent decades, there have been several major multilateral agreements elaborated under UN auspices to address the threat posed by nuclear weapons. The most significant of these are the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The NPT, which first came into force in 1970 and has been ratified 32

The United States and the United Nations during the 113 th Congress

by all but four countries (India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea) is the cornerstone of global nuclear non-proliferation efforts. The NPT requires non-nuclear-armed states to refrain from developing or otherwise acquiring nuclear weapons, and obliges nuclear-armed states parties (namely the U.S., UK, France, Russia, and China) to commit not to transfer nuclear weapons to any recipient. The NPT also established a safeguards system administered by the IAEA to ensure that non-nuclear-armed countries fulfill their obligations under the treaty and prevent the diversion of nuclear energy to manufacture weapons.

For its part, the CTBT, first opened for signature by UN member states in 1996, bans nuclear explosions in all environments for military or civilian purposes. The CTBT will only enter into force, however, after the 44 states in Annex II of the treaty ratify it. Eight of these countries have not yet done so, including, most prominently, China and the U.S.

Verifying Worldwide Nuclear Security and Usage: The IAEA First established in 1957, the IAEA works to prevent, detect, and respond to illicit or nonpeaceful uses of nuclear material. As the main UN body charged with verifying global compliance with the NPT, the IAEA currently monitors and inspects nuclear facilities in more than 140 countries to ensure that fissile material is not being diverted to produce nuclear weapons. These activities can help provide the international community with advanced warning of and trigger a global response to the existence of an illicit nuclear program, including providing a basis for action by the UN Security Council.

The IAEA’s work on nuclear nonproliferation has produced numerous important results in recent years. In 2004, the IAEA verified the dismantlement of Libya’s nuclear program after Libyan authorities renounced it in 2003. For nearly a decade, the IAEA’s monitoring activities in Iran have played a pivotal role in shining a light on that country’s nuclear program and bolstering U.S.-led efforts to curb it. In addition, in 2010, the Board of Governors of the IAEA voted, with strong U.S. support, to establish a global nuclear fuel bank where nations that aspire to produce nuclear energy for civilian use (and possess good non-proliferation records) can turn for reactor fuel instead of making it themselves. Deemed a breakthrough in multilateral nuclear cooperation, the bank enables the peaceful use of nuclear energy while simultaneously reducing the risk of global proliferation.

The UN’s Non-Proliferation Functions in Practice: Confronting Iran The UN provides an important platform for building a unified multilateral front against rogue regimes that fail to live up to their obligations under the NPT. In this regard, the UN system as a whole, and the Security Council and IAEA in particular, advance recent U.S.-led efforts to isolate Iran and sharpen the choices of its leaders regarding their controversial nuclear program.

Provided below is a synopsis of how the U.S. and the UN have worked to achieve these goals.

• Multilateral Sanctions: UN Security Council Resolution 1929, adopted by the Security Council in June 2010, created the toughest multilateral sanctions ever faced by the Iranian government, sending an unmistakable message about the international community’s commitment to stopping the spread of nuclear weapons. The new sanctions imposed restrictions not only on Iran’s nuclear activities, but on its ballistic missile program and, for the first time, its conventional military as well. The resolution also created a new framework to stop Iranian smuggling and crack down on Iranian financial institutions, targeting individuals and entities – including those associated with the Revolutionary Guard – that have supported Iran’s nuclear program and prospered from illicit activities.

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In praising passage of the resolution, then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that “one of the many benefits of this resolution is that it will provide a legal platform for individual nations to then take additional actions that go well beyond the resolution itself.”

This has in fact happened - the U.S. has issued its own sanctions, as has the European Union (Iran’s largest trading partner), Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Japan, and South Korea. These actions are particularly significant in light of the fact that after more than three decades of unilateral American sanctions, Iran carries out the overwhelming bulk of its international trade with countries other than the U.S. While Iran has continued its uranium enrichment activities, multilateral and bilateral sanctions are having a significant impact, with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling them “the heaviest economic onslaught on a nation in history.” Indeed, Iran’s currency has fallen against the dollar precipitously over the last year, and it is estimated that sanctions have reduced Iranian oil exports by nearly one-half. While it remains to be seen what effect sanctions will ultimately have on the country’s nuclear program, it is clear that the impact of these measures help sharpen the choices of the regime regarding its nuclear activities.

• The Role of the IAEA: Underpinning all of this is the work of the IAEA, which, through its monitoring and inspections activities, has helped build a case for continued international attention to and action on this issue. In November 2011, for instance, the IAEA released a report which found that Iran had carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear weapon. Several weeks later, the agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution censuring Iran for these activities by a vote of 32-2. The following day, White House National Security Advisor Tom Donilon stated that the IAEA’s vote signaled that “the degree of isolation [currently faced by Iran] really is unprecedented.”

Since then, the Agency has released several additional reports highlighting concerns over the possible military dimensions of Iran’s program and documenting its efforts to increase production of higher-grade enriched uranium. In addition, the Agency’s Director General, Yukiya Amano, has continued to call on Iranian authorities to allow IAEA inspectors to enter the Parchin military complex near Tehran, where nuclear-related explosives testing is alleged to have taken place. In doing so, the IAEA has helped intensify international pressure on Tehran and provided the impetus further action by the U.S. and its allies, including the imposition of more exacting bilateral sanctions against Iran.

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Fighting International Terrorism Terrorism, a transnational threat, can only be addressed thoroughly and effectively through the combined efforts of the international community. As we learned after September 11, 2001, terror networks operate in countries that are frequently beyond the reach of American access and influence. The United Nations is therefore an important partner in global efforts to fight terrorism, because it can amplify and broaden the reach of our nation’s own counter-terrorism efforts. In particular, it can reach those countries in which the U.S. does not have adequate bilateral relationships or sufficient credibility to operate.

For several decades, the UN system has played a central role in efforts to build an international legal framework to counter terrorism, including the elaboration of numerous multilateral treaties criminalizing specific terrorist acts and terrorism financing, as well as the creation of binding international sanctions regimes by the Security Council targeting Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The UN has also served as a critical forum for information-sharing, the provision of technical assistance, and other cooperative activities to support global counter-terrorism efforts.

In 2006, the UN General Assembly adopted the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, representing the first time that all UN Member States had agreed to a common strategic and operational plan to combat terrorism. The strategy includes practical steps to address the conditions that spread terrorism, strengthen state capacity to counter threats from terrorists, improve coordination among UN bodies involved in fighting terrorism, and safeguard human rights and the rule of law. There are a number of UN bodies currently working to advance this strategy.

UN Actions Against Terrorism • UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee: In the wake of the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1373, requiring countries to criminalize terrorism financing, freeze funds related to persons involved in terrorist acts, and cooperate with other governments to investigate, arrest, prosecute, and extradite terrorism suspects.

The resolution also established a Counter-Terrorism Committee, made up of all 15 members of the Security Council, to help UN member states implement the resolution. As part of these efforts, the Committee and its Executive Directorate have facilitated technical assistance to more than 60 countries to help address terrorism financing, border and customs controls, arms trafficking, transportation security, and a number of other issues.

• Non-Proliferation Committee: This committee, a subsidiary body of the Security Council, is tasked with monitoring and facilitating implementation of Security Council Resolution 1540, which sets out a series of mandatory measures to be taken by countries to prevent weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery from falling into the hands of terrorists.

The committee was established in 2004 partly in response to the passage of nuclear secrets to North Korea, Libya and Iran by rogue Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan. The resolution requires all states to establish domestic controls to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

• Al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committees: These Security Council committees play a crucial role in furthering U.S. counter-terrorism objectives, as they designate entities for and monitor international compliance with legally binding Security Council-backed sanctions targeting Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and related groups and individuals. Currently, theses bodies impose asset freezes, travel bans, and arms embargoes on 232 individuals and 62 entities associated with the Al-Qaeda terrorist network, and 131 individuals and three entities associated with the Taliban. In November 2012, the Taliban Sanctions 35

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Committee took a critical step by adding the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, which has been responsible for numerous attacks on coalition troops in Afghanistan, to its sanctions list. The U.S. State Department designated the Haqqani network as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in September 2012.

• Counter-Terrorism Treaties: The 14 multilateral counter-terrorism treaties elaborated under UN auspices over the years have greatly enhanced the U.S. fight against international terrorism. The treaties provide a legal basis for international cooperation to prevent terrorist financing, carry out joint law enforcement and intelligence efforts, and harmonize criminal justice standards in places with poor systems. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has assisted over 168 countries in synchronizing their national laws with these treaties and provides technical support to help strengthen the capacity of national criminal justice systems to go after terrorists.

• Keeping Weapons Out of the Hands of Terrorists: Other UN-affiliated institutions provide technical assistance to UN member states to help prevent weapons of mass destruction from falling into the hands of terrorists. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been working to help states meet their obligations under Resolution 1540 through the improvement of nuclear security measures around the world. The IAEA’s work in this area includes the provision of training and technical support to help countries secure nuclear and radioactive materials, as well as the operation of an Illicit Trafficking Database to facilitate the exchange of information regarding attempts to smuggle nuclear materials across national borders. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, for its part, works toward the eradication of chemical weapons. Its efforts have led to the deactivation of all declared chemical weapons production facilities, subjecting those in countries representing 95 percent of the world’s population to stringent verification.

Counterterrorism and the International Security Agenda Fighting the transnational terrorism threat will remain a top global priority throughout 2013, and the UN remains committed to using its unique advantages to play an important role in this fight.

By utilizing its convening power, the UN will continue to bring the international community together to coordinate counterterrorism efforts. By actively engaging with the UN on these efforts and lending its support to strengthening UN counterterrorism capacities and institutions, the U.S. can continue to build up the international community and its own capability to make the world safer from terrorism.

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U.S.-UN Priorities for 2013

37 Secretary-General Meets U.S. President

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) meets with United States President Barack Obama.

2013 Briefing Book

U.S. Dues and Contributions to the UN Funding for the United Nations and its affiliated agencies and programs comes from two sources: assessed and voluntary contributions. Assessed contributions are payments made as part of the obligations that nations undertake when signing treaties. At the UN, assessments on member states provide a reliable source of funding to core UN functions through the UN regular and peacekeeping budgets, based on each country’s ability to pay. Member states are also assessed dues to help support the foundational activities of various UN specialized agencies. Voluntary contributions, on the other hand, are left to the discretion of each individual member state. These contributions, which make up over half of all UN funding, finance most of the organization’s humanitarian relief and development bodies, including the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Program (WFP), the UN Development Program (UNDP), and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Assessed Contributions: The UN Regular Budget and Payments to Specialized Agencies The UN Regular Budget finances the core bodies and activities of the UN, including the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, International Court of Justice, and Secretariat as well as the UN’s special political missions, the largest of which are the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI).

The current payment structure for UN Regular Budget dues sets maximum (22%) and minimum (.001%) rates for all nations based on their ability to pay. The U.S. pays the maximum rate and has negotiated several reductions in this rate over time, most notably from 25% to 22%. The assessment rate is primarily determined by gross national product (GNP), and since the U.S. has one of the highest in the world, its dues assessments are higher than those of other Member States.

The U.S. assessed contribution to the UN’s regular budget is included in the State Department’s Contributions to International Organizations (CIO) account. In addition to the UN regular budget, the CIO account also covers dues payments to more than 40 other international organizations, including NATO and critical UN specialized agencies like the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and World Health Organization (WHO). Among numerous other activities, U.S. dues payments through CIO help finance efforts to: • Promote good governance, facilitate elections, and coordinate critical reconstruction, humanitarian, and development activities in Iraq and Afghanistan; • Monitor the nuclear activities of rogue states and international compliance with binding Security Council-backed sanctions against Iran and North Korea; • Facilitate technical assistance to help countries around the world fight terrorism; • Coordinate the global response to public health emergencies and steer efforts to eradicate life-threatening diseases; • Enable safe air travel everywhere by setting global standards for aviation navigation, communication, and safety.

Since the 1980s, the U.S. has deferred payments to international organizations through this account for at least nine months - into the next fiscal year. That means that though the fiscal year for international organizations begins on January 1, the U.S. does not provide payment until October 1, or when the State/Foreign Operations appropriations bills pass. This delay leaves the U.S. chronically behind and requires the international organizations affected to take fiscally undesirable measures to meet their payroll and other obligations.

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Assessed Contributions: The Peacekeeping Budget The UN’s peacekeeping budget finances 14 peacekeeping missions with more than 110,000 military, police, and civilian personnel deployed in conflict zones throughout the world. The UN funds its peacekeeping budget with assessments on member states similar to those made for the regular budget, but with greater discounts for poorer nations. The resulting funding deficit is compensated for by the five permanent members (P5) of the Security Council—the U.S., United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China. Under this formula, the U.S. is assessed 28% of the UN’s peacekeeping budget, though an outdated and arbitrary Congressional mandate caps U.S. expenditures for peacekeeping at 25%.

Since each of the P5 nations possess veto powers over Security Council decisions, no new or expanded peacekeeping missions can advance without U.S. consent. While this unique responsibility for establishing and renewing missions means the U.S. pays a higher proportion of the bill, the vast majority of personnel deployed on UN peacekeeping missions come from developing countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Ghana. In addition, the GAO has shown that UN peacekeeping forces are eight times cheaper than sending in unilateral U.S. forces.

Current Funding Levels for the UN Regular and Peacekeeping Budgets Over the past several years, the United States has returned to good financial standing at the United Nations by honoring our obligations and fully funding our regular and peacekeeping budget dues, which has allowed us to better utilize the UN to advance our interests. In the coming year, we ask that Congress continue this trend by fully funding our nation’s regular and peacekeeping budget dues. Full funding for our assessed dues to the UN ensures that it can carry out its vital humanitarian, peacekeeping, democracy-building, and development work, all of which serve core U.S. foreign policy interests.

Below is a chart detailing FY 2012 and FY 2013 funding levels, along with BWC’s request for FY 2014.

Account

FY’12 Actual

FY’13 Adminis- FY’13 tration Request Estimate*

CIPA

$1.828 billion

$2.098 billion

FY’14 FY’14 BWC President’s Request Request $1.882 billion $2.095 billion $2.183 billion

CIO

$1.551 billion

$1.57 billion

$1.456 billion $1.57 billion

$1.57 billion

$568 million

$618 million

$618 million

$347 million

$347 million

CIO – UN $569 million Regular Budget

PKO

$383.8 million $249.1 million

(Increase due to greater costs for political missions in Libya, Yemen, Syria)

$359 million

* While Congress did pass legislation to fund the federal government for the remainder of FY’13 in early March (H.R. 933), these totals are estimated to reflect the effects of sequestration and other across-the-board cuts. Specifically, this involves taking the numbers for each account approved as part of the FY’13 CR, subtracting .092%, then factoring in an additional 5.1% reduction due to sequestration, followed by a .02% OMB reduction.

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In FY’14, BWC is requesting $2.183 billion to meet our peacekeeping obligations under the CIPA account. This number is higher than the Administration’s request due to a lack of language in the FY’13 Continuing Resolution lifting the peacekeeping cap. As a result, our request reflects funding levels needed to fully fund our peacekeeping dues in FY’14, as well as pay off shortfalls accumulated in FY’13.

We also ask that you fully fund the Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) account, which has been a critical source of financial support for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in recent years. First authorized by the UN Security Council in 2007, AMISOM is working to defeat al-Shabaab, a Somali militant group aligned with Al-Qaeda, train Somali security forces, and help the country’s new parliament and president reestablish the rule of law after more than two decades of anarchy.

Voluntary Contributions Voluntary contributions are, as the term implies, payments left to the discretion of individual Member States. These contributions finance most of the United Nations’ humanitarian relief and development agencies, including UNICEF, WFP, and UNDP. These activities help advance critical U.S. foreign policy priorities and would be difficult, if not impossible, for the United States to undertake alone. Voluntary contributions from UN member states help pay to: • Provide lifesaving food aid, including through school feeding programs, to more than 100 million people in 73 countries; • Strengthen democratic institutions and empower civil society organizations in emerging democracies around the globe; • Immunize more than 58 percent of the world’s children against deadly diseases like polio and measles; • Assist refugees from countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, and Mali; • Tackle the AIDS pandemic.

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Secretary-General Meets Chairman of IAAC Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) meets with David M. Walker, Chairman of the Independent Audit Advisory Committee (IAAC) of the United Nations.

Recent Reforms at the UN In order to meet the challenges of the 21st century and to ensure member states’ resources are used most effectively, the United Nations continues to update its operations and management practices. Changes have taken place in nearly every area of UN operations, from the management of peacekeeping missions, to tougher ethics rules, to streamlined budget processes, to delivery of humanitarian aid on the ground. However, reform takes concerted engagement by all member states and positive U.S. leadership—along with that of Secretary-General Ban Kimoon—will be essential to continuing the reform agenda in 2013.

Ongoing Steps to Reduce Costs and Enhance Effectiveness Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the new Under-Secretary General for Management, Yukio Takasu, are committed to a strong reform agenda in 2013, in order to make the UN more effective, global, and modern. The United States remains a crucial partner in these efforts, and by working constructively with the UN Secretariat and other member states, has helped achieve important results in recent years. Recently, during General Assembly negotiations over the UN budget in late December, the U.S., working with its allies, helped secure adoption of a six-month pay freeze for New York-based UN staff and a 2014-2015 regular budget with zero nominal growth.

Aside from budgetary issues, over the last five years, the UN has created new mechanisms and continues to enhance UN operations through a number of reforms, including: Transparency: The UN has increased its standard of transparency, with UNICEF leading the way by making their internal audits public. Last year, the joint Executive Board of the UN Development Program (UNDP), UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and UN Population Fund (UNFPA) also voted to make their audit reports publicly available on the Internet. The Secretariat followed suit in March 2013, when the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee announced that all internal audit reports issued by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) would be made publicly available online starting later in the year. The U.S. Mission to the UN, which fought hard for this change, called it “a turning point in how the UN does business.”

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Peacekeeping Reform: The UN continues to implement the Global Field Support Strategy (GFSS), a five-year project to strengthen and expedite the UN’s delivery of support to missions in the field, yielding better results and cost efficiencies. The GFSS has already led to $250 million in savings in the current peacekeeping budget. With an eye towards quickening the start-up of missions, improving the provision of physical support to field missions, and increasing accountability and transparency, the GFSS is expected to deliver additional cost savings as other aspects of the initiative are implemented over the coming years.

Management and Oversight Reforms: The UN has strengthened oversight, doubling the capacity of its audit and investigations’ body and making procurement investigations a permanent feature. The UN has also stopped issuing permanent contracts to new employees, overhauled the internal justice system, and expanded public access to budgets, audits, and procurement information. The General Assembly approved a package of reforms to enhance accountability, and adopted International Public Sector Accounting Standards, which will improve the quality and transparency of financial reporting with the UN. The UN has also moved from print to electronic distribution of UN documents, resulting in significantly reduced printing costs.

Ethics: The UN Ethics Office continues to manage the UN’s financial disclosure policy and whistleblower protection policies as well as to provide training to UN staff on ethics practices and policies. The financial disclosure policy enacted widens the scope of individuals who must report. The UN also put in force an enhanced whistleblower protection policy, stronger than that of the U.S. government’s.

Combating Sexual Exploitation and Abuse: The UN’s approach to addressing sexual exploitation and abuse among peacekeepers has been enhanced, such that NATO has consulted with UN officials on how to best deal with sex crimes. The UN has established mandatory conduct, discipline, and awareness training for all troops and staff through 12 Conduct and Discipline Teams and launched outreach campaigns to educate the local population on how to report allegations; moved investigators and support staff to regional hubs in order to speed investigation of allegations and reduce costs; followed up on every substantiated sexual abuse and exploitation case to ensure that all violators are repatriated; begun issuing quarterly press releases to make public statistics regarding sexual abuse and exploitation cases in field missions; and provided victims with assistance, including medical, legal, and psychosocial care.

Delivering as One: The UN’s “Delivering as One” initiative to streamline the work of all UN funds and programs has proven to be effective. An independent evaluation of the program’s 8 pilot countries found that these reforms have made the delivery of humanitarian aid more efficient and encouraged those countries to take national ownership of their own development programs.

UN Women: Four UN organizations addressing gender issues have consolidated into a single entity called UN Women, which started work in January 2011, and have been giving women’s issues a stronger voice while reducing overlap and enhancing policy coherence and financial efficiency.

The policy changes described above have all been priorities for the United States, and effectively illustrate that reform is most effectively achieved through sustained engagement with the UN, rather than withholding our dues or withdrawing from UN bodies. Withholding money from the UN budget in order to force reform, as some suggest, would be more of an impediment to reform than a catalyst to encourage it. This approach alienates our allies, whose support the U.S. needs to push for changes, and sends a signal that the U.S. is more interested in weakening the UN than making it effective.

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Key International Agreements The United Nations provides a platform for nations to work together to establish international norms, standards, and agreements in the common interest of all nations. In recent decades, the UN has facilitated negotiation of critical international treaties on issues ranging from trade and commerce to the environment and human rights.

Historically, the United States has played a leading role in fostering the development of international law. But the U.S. has not ratified a number of international treaties and agreements, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the ‘Women’s Treaty,’ and several other arms control and human rights agreements. During the 113th Congress, it is possible that the Senate may take up one or more of these measures for formal consideration. Provided below is a summary of several such treaties.

UN Convention on the Law of the Sea The U.S. has signed, but not ratified, the UN Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This treaty is a set of rules, negotiated by member states, governing the use of the world’s oceans. It defines maritime zones and boundaries, creates legally secured navigation and resource usage rights, and sets standards for protecting the marine environment, sustaining fishing stocks, and preventing pollution from land and air sources. Leaders of both political parties, the Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, environmental organizations, and all major ocean industry groups—including fishing, undersea cable, and oil companies – back ratification of the treaty. This broad coalition of support was on full display during the summer of 2012, when industry leaders, Republican and Democratic officials, and six four-star generals testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during a series of hearings about the benefits of U.S. accession to UNCLOS. The treaty has been ratified by 162 UN member states, and even though the U.S. helped draft the document and was able to secure all of its objectives during negotiations, it is the only major naval power that has not ratified the treaty. Those who object to U.S. ratification contend that doing so would surrender U.S. sovereignty, result in what they call a “UN tax”, or restrict activities of the U.S. Navy. All three claims are untrue: joining the treaty would actually increase U.S. ocean territory by 4.1 million square miles, the U.S. would incur no taxes, and UNCLOS has no jurisdiction over U.S. military activities. In addition, ratification of the treaty would be a boon to our nation’s economic interests, firmly entrenching U.S. rights to drill for oil, gas, and other critical resources on its extended continental shelf, and giving American companies the opportunity to obtain clear legal title to engage in mining activities in the deep seabed.

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Signed by the U.S. in July 2009, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) requires countries to ensure equality under the law for persons with disabilities, as well as take action to stamp out discrimination in access to justice, health care, education, and employment. Inspired in large part by our nation’s own landmark disability rights law, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 124 countries have ratified the Convention to date, including key U.S. allies like the UK, Canada, Germany, South Korea, and Israel. While ratification of the CRPD would not require the U.S. to change its own laws, it would allow America to reassert its position as a world leader on disability rights and export the core principles of the ADA abroad. On December 4, 2012, the CRPD was brought to the Senate floor, but fell five votes short of the twothirds majority required for ratification under the U.S. Constitution. Nevertheless, it is possible that the treaty could be brought before the Senate again during the 113th Congress.

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Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) functions as “an international bill of rights for women”. It provides a definition of discrimination against women, affirms women’s equality to men, and commits states to ensuring that women receive the same rights as men. Members of the treaty agree to take appropriate measures to enforce and protect these rights and to work to prevent and punish all forms of discrimination.

A total of 187 UN member states, including all developed countries with the exception of the United States, have ratified CEDAW. U.S.-based opponents of CEDAW contend that it promotes a ‘radical feminist’ agenda and supports abortion. That almost the entire world outside the U.S. supports the treaty, including countries where abortion is illegal, belies the former claim, and the latter charge is simply untrue: CEDAW makes no mention of abortion, and the U.S. Department of State deemed it “abortion neutral.” Despite concerns to the contrary, CEDAW would not force the U.S. to change our laws; as with other international agreements, implementation of the Convention’s provisions is the sovereign right of the U.S. government.

Convention on the Rights of the Child The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) recognizes the basic human rights of children under 18 years of age. It obliges governments to protect children, ensure their access to education and health care, and provide them with a safe upbringing that takes their best interests into account, all without discrimination.

UNICEF describes the CRC as the “most widely and rapidly ratified human rights treaty in history.” Only the U.S. and Somalia have not yet ratified the treaty. In the U.S., opponents of the CRC believe that it would undermine state and federal law. However, the U.S. government alone would determine how to implement the CRC, as with CEDAW and other international treaties. Nothing in the CRC, moreover, would contravene any current U.S. policies towards the rights of children and no requirements would be imposed on the United States.

Banning Landmines and Cluster Bombs The 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Ottawa Convention, prohibited all anti-personnel landmines. This agreement commits countries to stopping the production of landmines, clearing mined areas within ten years, and destroying all stockpiles of mines within four years. The U.S. has 10 million of these weapons stockpiled. Landmines maim or kill an estimated 4,0005,000 people every year, more than one-third of whom are children. While 160 countries have ratified the Ottawa Convention, the U.S. and Cuba are the only countries in the Western Hemisphere that have not yet done so.

With respect to cluster munitions, a particularly devastating type of bomb that has killed and maimed thousands of civilians, the Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted in May 2008. It currently has 111 signatories and has been ratified by 77 states, but not by the U.S. Those that do not support the treaty are all major cluster bomb producers or users.

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Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) In recent decades, there have been several major multilateral agreements elaborated under UN auspices to address the threat posed by nuclear weapons. The Comprehensive Nuclear TestBan Treaty (CTBT), first opened for signature by UN member states in 1996, bans nuclear explosions in all environments for military or civilian purposes. The CTBT will only enter into force, however, after the 44 states in Annex II of the treaty ratify it. Eight of these countries have not yet done so, including, most prominently, China and the U.S.

International Criminal Court The Rome Statute, which went into force in 2002, established the International Criminal Court (ICC), a judicial body based in The Hague, Netherlands and tasked with trying crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes. 121 countries—including nearly all of Europe—are party to the Rome Statute, and an additional 32 countries have signed but not ratified the agreement. The Court is not a UN body and differs from the UN International Court of Justice, which negotiates disputes between states.

The Clinton administration originally signed the Rome Statute, but opted not to present it to the Senate for ratification. The Bush administration then “unsigned” the treaty, relieving the U.S. of any legal obligations to the court. Opponents in the U.S. fear that countries could use the ICC to prosecute American armed forces abroad, even though the Rome Statue contains provisions that would ensure this would not occur.

In 2006, the U.S. abstained on a Security Council vote referring Sudan to the ICC, which allowed the referral to pass and broke with long-standing U.S. policy of vetoing resolutions involving the ICC. Since then, the U.S. has supported the ICC’s efforts in Sudan, even promising to veto any attempt to suspend ICC jurisdiction there. Since 2009, the Obama administration has been positively engaged with the Court, but it has not adopted an official policy, instead opting to consider on a case by case basis the various issues relating to the court.

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Appendix I: Key UN Institutions

Security Council Votes Unanimously to Adopt Resolution on Iraq

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The UN Security Council The UN Security Council is the world’s primary body charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. The five permanent members of the Security Council are the United States, China, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom. Ten other members each serve two-year terms.

Regional groups choose rotating members who are confirmed by a two-thirds vote of the UN General Assembly. The African group has three members; the Eastern European group has one; and the Latin America and Caribbean, Asian, and “Western Europe and Others” groups each have two. Non-permanent Security Council members serve two-year non-consecutive terms.

Countries that joined the Council as non-permanent members in 2013 include Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, South Korea, and Rwanda. The other non-permanent members completing the second year of their terms in 2013 are Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan, and Togo.

History and Relevance On October 24, 1945, the World War II victors ratified the UN Charter, creating the Security Council and establishing themselves as its five permanent members with the unique ability to veto resolutions. Originally, there were six temporary members, rotating every two years and distributed on an equitable geographic basis. That rule was more explicitly defined in 1965, when the number of temporary members was increased to ten: five from Africa and Asia, one from Eastern Europe, two from Latin America and the Caribbean, and two from Western Europe.

As outlined in the UN Charter, the Security Council’s purpose is to: “Investigate any dispute, or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute, in order to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or situation is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security” and act accordingly, by: • Investigating any situation threatening international peace; • Recommending procedures for peaceful resolution of a dispute; • Calling upon other member nations to completely or partially interrupt economic relations as well as sea, air, postal, and radio communications, or to sever diplomatic relations; and • Enforcing its decisions militarily, if necessary.

On January 17, 1946, the Security Council met for the first time in London. The first UN peacekeeping mission was deployed in 1948 to the Middle East, and over the last 60 years, the Security Council has defused innumerable international crises and strengthened international cooperation on counter-terrorism and nonproliferation. Through Security Council resolutions, the UN has undertaken 67 peacekeeping missions in the most dangerous places in the world, helped implement 172 peaceful settlements that have ended conflicts, and enabled millions of people in dozens of countries to take part in free and fair elections to pave the way for democracy.

Reform and Enlargement There have been frequent calls to enlarge the Council’s membership in order to preserve the UN Security Council’s legitimacy and ensure that it reflects today’s global power and economic realities.

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The most popular reform proposal would accept Japan, Germany, India, and Brazil (known as the G4) as permanent members. Japan and Germany are among the largest contributors to the UN budget. India is a nuclear power, the world’s largest democracy, and the second most populous nation. Brazil is the largest, most populous, and most prosperous nation in Latin America. Regional groups and individual countries have floated several other proposals, but the Security Council has not responded positively to any of them.

Veto power is a key element in moving forward on Security Council reform. It can prevent the adoption of any substantive draft Council resolution, regardless of the level of international support for the draft. Currently, the five permanent members of the Council (the so-called P-5) are the only members who have such authority. Some have proposed that a reformed Security Council grant the veto to new members or alternatively restrict the use of the veto by the P-5 nations. The U.S. and other P-5 members, however, strongly resist diluting or weakening the veto, and the U.S. has publically opposed any reform which alters the veto structure. Additionally, the Obama Administration has stated that any Security Council reform should ensure that the Council remains an effective instrument, as some fear that additional members may make reaching decisions more difficult.

Changes to the Security Council require the unanimous agreement of the P-5, and some P-5 members may threaten to veto giving a permanent seat to their regional competitors. To get around these obstacles and increase the legitimacy of the Council, some have proposed reforming current working methods to allow non-permanent countries to be represented. This could include holding sessions in which, for instance, countries contributing peacekeeping troops and other UN members have a chance to voice their views.

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The UN General Assembly The General Assembly is the world’s primary deliberative body with universal representation. While the exclusive Security Council grants unique veto rights to five nations, all 193 UN member states have equal voting rights in the General Assembly making it unique among world bodies.

The General Assembly admits new UN members and elects members to other UN organs. It is the primary platform for the dialogue between developed and developing states. Among its duties are: • Reviewing reports from the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council; • Making recommendations on international political cooperation; • Developing and systematizing international collaboration in economic, social, cultural, educational, and health fields; • Counseling and encouraging peaceful settlement of hostile situations amongst nations; • Appointing the Secretary-General in conjunction with the Security Council, electing the other ten non-permanent members of the Security Council, judges of the International Court of Justice, and members of the Economic and Social Council; and • Setting the UN budget and approving budget-related decisions that affect the functioning of the Secretariat.

Voting and Sessions Each September, a new General Assembly session convenes in New York City with two weeks of open debate during which many world leaders address the body directly. This event provides heads of state and government the only universal forum in which to address one another. After these world leaders return to their capitals, representatives from their missions in New York continue to debate issues in a session that typically suspends in late December and reconvenes as needed throughout the following year.

All 193 UN member states vote in the General Assembly. Additionally, several entities, such as the Vatican, have non-voting, observer status allowing them to participate in debate but not vote.

Recommendations on peace and security, the election of members to organs, the admission, suspension, and expulsion of members, and budgetary matters each require a two-thirds majority of those present and voting to pass. Resolutions on all other matters only require a simple majority, and budgets are in practice now adopted by consensus. Aside from budgetary matters that relate to setting the budget for the UN Secretariat, General Assembly resolutions are non-binding on member states.

The UN Security Council or a majority of member states can request an emergency or special session of the General Assembly. Examples of extra sessions include an emergency session in 1950 on North and South Korea and two recent special sessions, one to adopt the Millennium Development Declaration in 2000 and another to set a UN reform agenda in 2005.

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Structure A president, elected prior to the annual opening session, heads the General Assembly and helps set its agenda. Mr. Vuk Jeremić of Serbia is the current president of the General Assembly now in its 67th session.

The General Assembly has six main committees of the whole: Disarmament and International Security; Economic and Financial; Social, Cultural and Humanitarian; Special Political and Decolonization; Administrative and Budgetary; and Legal. There are seven commissions, including the International Law Commission and the Peacebuilding Commission. There are also smaller councils and panels, such as the Human Rights Council, and other committees covering a broad range of topics, such as the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Finally, representatives meet in working groups to discuss particular issues.

History and Relevance Although General Assembly resolutions are non-binding on member states, they often have a dramatic and lasting effect. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is, perhaps, the most famous General Assembly Declaration. Passed in 1948, largely due to the efforts of former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, this document has become the international guidebook for human rights. The United for Peace Resolution, passed in 1950 allowing police action to protect South Korea from North Korean aggression, is also noteworthy.

In 2000, the General Assembly adopted a Millennium Development Declaration to achieve specific goals related to poverty, illiteracy, health, and environmental progress by 2015. In 2005, the General Assembly passed a resolution, the World Summit Outcome, for comprehensive reform to make the organization more efficient, transparent, and accountable and enable it to better address human rights, peacebuilding, and protection challenges.

Assembly Adopts Text on “Oceans and Law of the Sea” A view inside the General Assembly Hall as the Assembly adopts – by a recorded vote of 125 in favour to 1 against (Turkey), with 4 abstentions (Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Venezuela) – a wide-ranging resolution on “oceans and the law of the sea”, emphasizing in particular sustainable development and the maintenance of biodiversity in marine ecosystems.

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The United Nations Secretariat The UN Secretariat, headed by the Secretary-General and staffed by 44,000 personnel worldwide, comparable in size to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, carries out the day-to-day work of managing the general operations of the United Nations globally. It implements mandates adopted by the General Assembly, the Security Council, and the Economic and Social Council, by administering programs and policies, staffing member state negotiations, and providing them with information so that they may exercise effective oversight of the UN’s activities.

The UN Secretariat includes peacekeeping operations but does not include UN funds, programs, and agencies that have their own executive boards.

Areas of Work Although the work of the Secretariat changes according to the work of the United Nations, some of its main functions include planning and managing UN peacekeeping operations, mediating international disputes and supporting the Secretary-General’s good offices function, assisting in the implementation of Security Council decisions and sancUnited Nations Headquarters Flags of member nations fly at United Nations tions, coordinating disaster relief across dozens of huHeadquarters. manitarian organizations, promoting social and economic development and tracking statistics and research on progress made, and planning and facilitating discussion and meetings among 193 countries on a daily basis, which includes translating documents and speeches into the UN’s six official languages. All of this is done with an annual budget of approximately $2.5 billion, less than the state budget of Delaware. The United States contributes 22 percent of the budget of the UN Secretariat.

Leadership The Secretariat is led by the UN Secretary-General, who is selected every five years by the Security Council and approved by the General Assembly. Although there is no formal limit to the number of five-year terms a Secretary-General may serve, they generally serve no more than two. Candidacies for the position have traditionally been considered on the basis of regional rotation amongst the continents.

The current Secretary-General of the United Nations is Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, who assumed office on January 1, 2007. He is currently in his second term as Secretary-General, which will end on December 31, 2016.

Key Departments of the UN Secretariat Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO): This critical department is in charge of managing UN peacekeeping missions, giving political and executive direction to the missions, and maintaining contact with the Security Council, troop and financial contributors, and parties to the conflict. The Department works to coordinate efforts by the United Nations, governments, and NGOs in carrying out peacekeeping operations.

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Department of Field Support (DFS): Created in 2007, DFS coordinates the provision of support to peacekeeping operations and special political and/or peacebuilding missions in the areas of logistics, information and communications technology, finance, human resources. It also has the critical responsibility for overseeing the Conduct and Discipline Unit (CDU), which formulates all policy on training, outreach and discipline in field missions, and implements a zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse.

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): This office mobilizes and coordinates humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors in the event of disasters and emergencies. OCHA advocates for the rights of people in need, promotes preparedness and prevention, and facilitates sustainable solutions.

Department of Management: This body manages the UN budget, human resources, and central services, putting it in charge of everything from financing lifesaving peacekeeping missions, to information technology, to the renovation of UN headquarters.

Department of Public Information (DPI): This department provides valuable services that inform the world about the United Nations, such as the UN News Center and UN Radio, while also managing UN publications, the United Nations’ Dag HammarskjÜld Library, and the UN CyberSchoolBus, which is an initiative to educate children about the United Nations and international issues.

Department of Political Affairs (DPA): The Department of Political Affairs plays a central role in working to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts around the globe and to promote lasting peace in societies emerging from war by monitoring and assessing global political developments; advising the Secretary-General on how to advance the cause of peace; providing support and guidance to UN peace envoys and managing political missions in the field; and coordinating electoral assistance to member states.

Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS): This office provides internal oversight advice to the Secretary-General and the General Assembly on their obligations to oversee UN programs and ensure that they comply with appropriate resolutions, regulations, rules, and policies. OIOS is focused on helping the Secretary-General and the General Assembly on preventing and detecting fraud, waste, abuse, malfeasance, or mismanagement and has the authority to monitor, audit, inspect, evaluate, or investigate any UN activity necessary to support the Secretary-General in fulfilling his oversight responsibilities. The UN’s Board of Auditors, by contrast, provides external oversight and is wholly independent of the Secretary-General.

International Civil Servants As international civil servants, the Secretary-General and his staff answer to all 193 UN member states for their activities and take an oath not to seek or receive instructions from any one government, groups of governments or outside authority. This is to prevent any one country from having undue influence over the activities of the UN. Under the UN Charter, each member state pledges to respect the exclusively international character of the responsibilities of the Secretary-General and his staff and to refrain from seeking to influence them as they exercise their duties.

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Appendix II: The UN System

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Cyclone “Nargis” Victims Receive UNHCR Assistance A United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) aid worker hands a blanket to one of the young victims of cyclone “Nargis”.

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UN Funds & Programs The UN system is comprised of the UN, whose headquarters are in New York, and more than 30 affiliated organizations—known as programs, funds, and specialized agencies—with their own membership, leadership, and budget processes. These groups work with and through the UN to promote worldwide peace and prosperity.

UN programs and funds are financed through voluntary contributions rather than assessed contributions, and include the following: • United Nations Development Program (UNDP): On the ground in 166 countries, UNDP is the UN’s global development network, focusing on the challenges of democratic governance, poverty reduction, crisis prevention and recovery, energy and environment, and HIV/AIDS. UNDP coordinates national and international efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aimed at poverty reduction. In the field, UNDP is working with the Iraqi government to improve the delivery of public services and increase the transparency and accessibility of the Iraqi justice system, has helped Thailand build solar-powered water pumping stations, and administered a cash-for-work program in Haiti to jumpstart the local economy in the aftermath of the earthquake. UNDP is also one of the primary implementing bodies for UN electoral assistance, helping to facilitate on average one free and fair election somewhere in the world every two weeks.

• United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF): UNICEF provides long-term humanitarian and development assistance to children and mothers. UNICEF is involved in a number of critical initiatives, including a program that aims to help girls enroll and stay in school in 34 African countries; supplying lifesaving vaccines to more than 58% of the world’s children; and providing clean water, sanitation, educational support, and nutritional assistance to children in disaster zones and war-torn regions around the world, including Syria, the Sahel region, and the Horn of Africa.

• World Food Program (WFP): WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency dedicated to the goal of eradicating hunger and malnutrition. Every year, the program feeds an average of over 100 million people in more than 73 countries and rapidly deploys to some of the world’s worst natural and man-made crises. At the height of the emergency response in Haiti following the January 2010 earthquake, WFP was feeding one third of the population, roughly 3 million people. The organization also played a central role in the humanitarian response to the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa in 2011, and is currently working to help large crisis-hit populations in places like Syria, South Sudan, and the Sahel region.

• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, UNHCR protects refugees worldwide and facilitates their resettlement or return home. UNHCR is working on the ground in over 110 countries, helping 36 million people in areas including Lebanon, Darfur, South Sudan, Somalia, and Iraq. Since the eruption of renewed fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in April 2012, UNHCR has been working around the clock, in extremely difficult conditions, to provide relief items and shelter to tens of thousands of people who have been forced to flee their homes. Over the last decade, UNHCR has helped more than 4.6 million Afghan refugees return to their home country and provided assistance as they reintegrate into society.

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• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC): UNODC is a global leader in the fight against illicit drugs, organized crime, corruption and terrorism. The Vienna-based organization helps member states address these challenges by providing field-based technical support to enhance the capacity of criminal justice systems and adherence to the rule of law, helping states implement relevant international treaties, and serving as a source of research and information to help guide policy decisions on countering drugs and crime. UNODC also works to improve cross-border cooperation on human trafficking.

• United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA): UNFPA, which operates in more than 150 countries, is the largest international source of funding for population and reproductive health programs in the world. UNFPA helps women, men, and young people plan their families, including the number, timing, and spacing of their children, go through pregnancy and childbirth safely, and avoid sexually transmitted infections. UNFPA also combats violence against women and promotes women’s equality. UNFPA does not provide, support, or advocate for abortion, nor does it support, promote, or condone coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.

• United Nations Environment Program (UNEP): UNEP coordinates the UN’s environmental activities. It develops international environmental conventions, assesses global environmental trends, encourages new civil sector partnerships, and strengthens institutions so they might better protect the environment.

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UN Specialized Agencies In addition to the programs, offices, and funds described in the previous section, the UN system is also comprised of a number of affiliated specialized agencies that work with and through the UN to advance international cooperation and progress on a host of critical issues. Through their work, UN specialized agencies promote core U.S. foreign policy, national security, economic, public health, and humanitarian objectives every day. In addition to these benefits, American engagement with these agencies is an extremely cost-effective way to address challenges that cross national borders, as other countries cover the vast majority of their costs. Provided below is a snapshot of the work of these agencies and how they advance U.S. interests.

• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): The IAEA works to prevent, detect, and respond to the illicit or non-peaceful use of nuclear material, conducting monitoring and inspection activities in 140 countries to verify compliance with international nuclear safeguard agreements.

In 2004, the IAEA verified the dismantlement of Libya’s nuclear program after Libyan authorities renounced it in 2003. In 2010, with strong U.S. support, the board of the IAEA voted to set up a global nuclear fuel bank that aspiring nations can turn to for reactor fuel instead of making it themselves, thereby reducing the risk of global proliferation. For nearly a decade, the IAEA’s monitoring activities in Iran have helped shine a light on that country’s nuclear program and bolster U.S.-led efforts to curb it. By providing the impetus for strong Security Council sanctions targeting Iran’s nuclear program, as well as subsequent rounds of bilateral sanctions by the U.S., EU, and other countries, the IAEA is playing a pivotal role in efforts to ratchet up international pressure on Iran and sharpen the choices of its leadership.

• World Health Organization (WHO): WHO serves as a coordinating authority on international public health. It is responsible for leading the global response to health emergencies, monitoring outbreaks of infectious disease, spearheading global vaccination efforts, and developing campaigns to combat life threatening diseases like polio, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. Every year, the WHO investigates 200 to 250 disease outbreaks. In the 1970s, WHO made history when it coordinated a successful campaign to eradicate smallpox, the first and thus far only time that a major infectious disease has been eradicated. In 2003, WHO helped stop the spread of SARS before it could reach and infect tens of thousands of people. In 2009 and 2010, WHO steered international efforts to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus. In cooperation with UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, other national governments, and NGO partners, WHO has helped immunize more than two billion children against polio, reducing cases of the debilitating disease by 99 percent since 1988.

• United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO): UNESCO promotes global peace and security, scientific innovation, and intercultural dialogue through a variety of programs in five major areas: education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information. UNESCO’s work in these fields serves a number of our nation’s core values and national security interests. For example, UNESCO has been facilitating U.S.-led efforts to create a capable and professional police force in Afghanistan by providing literacy training to members of the Afghan National Police, more than 70% of whom are unable to read or write. The organization’s field office in Iraq, meanwhile, works to fight extremism by managing an educational program to instill young Iraqis with civic values, including a unified national identity that transcends sectarian fissures and women’s rights. Unfortunately, UNESCO’s work has been severely hampered since October 2011, when a decision by the agency’s General Conference to admit the Palestinians as a member state triggered two U.S. laws from the 1990s requiring our country to cut off funding to any UN agency that does so.

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• International Labor Organization (ILO): The ILO is responsible for formulating and overseeing the implementation of international labor standards. The agency works to promote the protection of worker rights and improvement of working conditions around the world, the abolition of forced and child labor, and the creation of greater opportunities for employment. Among other benefits, the achievement of these objectives can help improve U.S. economic competitiveness by requiring other countries to operate by a common set of labor-related rules. ILO’s membership structure is unique in that it is the UN’s only tripartite agency: it brings together not only national governments, but employers and workers as well, to jointly shape multilateral labor policies.

• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO): The FAO fights hunger worldwide by promoting sustainable agricultural development and supporting efforts to rebuild agricultural livelihoods in the wake of natural disasters. The FAO also works to develop global standards for food safety and plant and animal health, which in turn help protect American farmers and consumers, as well as facilitate international trade. Among its recent accomplishments, the FAO has provided critical emergency assistance to drought-stricken areas of the Horn of Africa and West Africa’s Sahel region. FAO also plays an indispensable role in global fishery conservation efforts, which are important to U.S. consumers, the world’s second largest importer of fishery products. In 2011, the agency spearheaded successful efforts to eradicate rinderpest, a disease that kills livestock and represents a serious threat to food security and the livelihoods of farmers around the world.

• International Maritime Organization (IMO): The IMO sets international safety standards for ships, ports, and maritime facilities, develops ship design and operating requirements, and leads global efforts to prevent maritime pollution. Standards promulgated by the IMO are central to the health of the U.S. economy, as more than 90% of all international trade is carried on ships, and the vast majority of ships that call at U.S. ports have foreign crews and are registered under foreign flags. In the wake of the Costa Concordia shipwreck last year, IMO agreed to new safety rules for passengers aboard cruise ships, including a requirement that passenger safety drills take place prior to, or immediately upon, a ship’s departure. IMO also works with member states to address security threats to the international shipping industry, including piracy and terrorism.

• International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO): ICAO enables safe air travel everywhere by setting global standards for navigation, communication, and airline safety. These standards map out airspace jurisdiction and establish “free range” airspace over oceans and seas. This agency also sets international standards for limiting environmental degradation and works to strengthen aviation security by conducting regular audits of aviation security oversight in ICAO member states. ICAO also works to enhance the security of travel documents like passports, developing global standards to ensure the safety and integrity of these documents. To date, 186 ICAO Member States have adopted machine readable passports (MRPs) that comply with ICAO standards. With concerns over terrorism, drug smuggling, and human trafficking topping the list of U.S. security priorities, such standards are of critical importance to the U.S. • World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO): WIPO encourages American innovation and economic growth through the registration and protection of patents, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property, as well as through the adjudication of cross-border disputes on intellectual property. Dozens of major American companies have sought out WIPO’s dispute resolution services as an alternative to costly court proceedings, including the American Automobile Association, Apple, North Face, Costco, and Facebook. Moreover, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of 57 NGO observers at WIPO, nearly 19 million Americans are employed in IP-intensive industries, and therefore depend on WIPO-administered IP protection activities.

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• International Telecommunication Union (ITU): The ITU helps facilitate the connectivity and interoperability of the world’s telecommunications networks, which is of critical importance to the U.S. telecommunications industry and American defense and intelligence communications capabilities. By allocating radio spectrum and satellite orbits, as well as developing technical standards to ensure that networks interconnect seamlessly, the ITU’s work helps make communicating possible even in some of the world’s most remote locations.

• World Meteorological Organization (WMO): WMO facilitates the unrestricted international exchange of meteorological data, forecasts and warnings, and works to further their use in the aviation, shipping, agriculture, energy, and defense sectors. Weather knows no boundaries, and through these activities, the WMO helps the U.S. predict and prepare for natural disasters resulting from severe weather events, including hurricanes.

• Universal Postal Union (UPU): The UPU facilitates postal service across the globe, helping Americans conduct business everywhere, from Beijing to London to Sao Paulo. By setting standards for the worldwide postal system and promoting affordable basic postal services in all territories, the UPU enables U.S. businesses to utilize the postal system to conduct business at low costs.

• World Bank: The World Bank focuses on poverty reduction and the improvement of living standards worldwide by providing low-interest loans, interest-free credit, and grants to developing countries for education, health, infrastructure, and communications. Dr. Jim Yong Kim of the United States is the 12th president of the World Bank.

• International Monetary Fund (IMF): The IMF is an organization of 188 countries that fosters global monetary cooperation, facilitates international trade, promotes high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduces poverty. It offers financial and technical assistance to its members, making it an international lender of last resort. The IMF currently has $28 billion in outstanding loans to 74 nations.

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Secretary-General Visits MINUSTAH Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (centre, front row) and William Jefferson Clinton (right, front row), former President of the United States of America, visit the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

Americans at the UN The United Nations employs more than 1,800 Americans in the United States and thousands of others in UN offices abroad. A 2010 Government Accountability Office (GAO) study found that Americans comprise the largest number of staff in all professional positions within the UN agencies it reviewed.

Provided below are examples of Americans in leadership roles at the UN: • UN Children’s Fund Executive Director Anthony Lake, who began serving in May 2010, leads global efforts to promote the protection of children’s rights in 190 countries. UNICEF’s work on behalf of children includes education, HIV/AIDS prevention, protection from abuse, and other activities that save lives, such as the provision of vaccines, nutritional supplements, and anti-malarial bed nets.

• World Food Program Executive Director Ertharin Cousin oversees the world’s largest humanitarian agency addressing hunger. The WFP provides food to an average of more than 90 million people in 73 countries each year. Cousin began her tenure as the 12th Executive Director of WFP on April 5, 2012, and is based in Rome.

• Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, has managed the Department of Political Affairs since July 2012, which plays a key role in UN efforts to prevent and resolve conflicts around the world. He also advises the Secretary-General on global peace and security issues, working closely with political missions and peace envoys on the ground. Previously, Mr. Feltman served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from 2009-2012.

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• Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning and Policy Coordination Robert C. Orr serves in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, running the Secretary-General’s Policy Committee. He advises the office on a range of strategic issues such as climate change, global health, counter-terrorism, and UN reform.

• The Executive Director of the renovation of UN Headquarters, called the Capital Master Plan, is Michael Adlerstein, who was the vice president and architect of the New York Botanical Garden and the project director for the restoration of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

Other Americans serving in UN leadership positions include: • Former President Bill Clinton, the UN Special Envoy for Haiti, and Dr. Paul Farmer, UN Deputy Special Envoy for Haiti; • Ray Chambers, Special Envoy for Malaria; • Anthony Banbury, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Field Support; • Matthew Nimetz, the Secretary-General’s Envoy for talks between Greece and Macedonia; • Edward Luck, Secretary-General’s Advisor on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P); • Roger Meece, Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO); • Christopher Ross, Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara; • John Ruggie, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises; • Jeffrey D. Sachs, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals; • Lisa Buttenheim, Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).

Photo credits: Page 9: ©UNICEF/Heifel Ben Youssef All other photos: UN Photo Library

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The Better World Campaign (BWC) works to strengthen the relationship between the United States and the United Nations through outreach, communications, and advocacy. It encourages U.S. leadership to enhance the UN’s ability to carry out its invaluable international work on behalf of peace, progress, freedom, and justice. In these efforts, BWC engages policymakers, the media, and the American public to increase awareness of and support for the United Nations. For more information, visit www.BetterWorldCampaign.org.

The United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNAUSA), a program of the UN Foundation, is a membership organization dedicated to inform, inspire and mobilize the American people to support the principles and vital work of the United Nations. UNA-USA works to accomplish its mission through its national network of chapters, advocacy efforts, education programs, and public events. UNA-USA and BWC are the single largest network of advocates and supporters of the United Nations in the world. For more information, visit www.unausa.org.

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