U.N. reform regimen

Those of us who strongly support the United Nations, and those who don’t, find ourselves today in rare agreement: After more than 60 years of business as usual, the U.N. needs to overhaul and modernize its management structure.

The oil-for-food scandal, sexual abuses by U.N. peacekeepers, the travesty of awarding seats on the Human Rights Commission to notorious human-rights abusers, the widespread procurement fraud that was just brought to light by the U.N.’s own investigative Office of Internal Oversight Services — these are just the most obvious signs the U.N. has lost its way. Worse, they so damage the U.N.’s credibility people lose sight of its triumphs, from tsunami relief to SARS/avian flu efforts to the World Food Program’s fight against hunger.

Yet many commonsense reforms proposed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and supported by the Bush administration and other nations have run into a roadblock. Some countries apparently think “reform” is really a Trojan horse for a U.S. power grab. Others fear efforts to clean up the U.N. will somehow diminish its stature, or their own role within it.

In fact, just the opposite is true: Without accountability and transparency in how it operates, the U.N. will be left on the sidelines of diplomacy and cut out of future multilateral security initiatives. Rationalizing the U.N.’s cumbersome procedures and updating its 1940s-era management practices is not pro-U.S., it’s pro-U.N.

The U.N.’s ability to organize burden-sharing and take over missions best handled by the international community is critical to the long-term success of U.S. foreign policy.

Americans shouldn’t let their frustration with U.N. shortcomings blind them to its value. Rather, we should show resolute leadership that will drive reform toward a constructive outcome. In the process, we must explain how these changes will help the world community.

There have been some reforms, but the larger reform agenda is stalled. To break this impasse, we should start with a subset of important, long-overdue measures that enjoy wide support. I have written to Mr. Annan about such a list. Tomorrow, I will lead a delegation from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to U.N. headquarters in New York to discuss reform.

The 10 reforms below should not be controversial. They confer no advantage on the United States, they support the U.N. Charter and its mission, they will improve morale and effectiveness by bringing management structures into the 21st century, and they will enhance the U.N.’s global standing.

I will continue to urge these be promptly adopted and fully carried out to build momentum for completing the rest of the agenda so the world can have the U.N. it needs.

(1) Establish a Human Rights Council with membership criteria that will bar repressive or Security Council-sanctioned regimes.

(2) Create an Ethics Office, including more thorough financial disclosures and lower gift limits.

(3) Establish an effective whistleblower protection policy.

(4) Establish and enforce a zero tolerance policy on sexual exploitation by U.N. personnel at Headquarters and in the field — both in humanitarian and peacekeeping operations.

(5) Strengthen the Office of Internal Oversight Services so it can conduct more effective and in-depth investigations of corruption.

(6) Overhaul the procurement system and internal controls to ensure officials involved in the process don’t take kick-backs and bribes.

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