FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Amy Auth

August 4, 2005 202-225-2071

# THE TIME TO REFORM THE UNITED NATIONS IS NOW

*By Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC)*

Earlier this summer in San Francisco, representatives from around the
globe gathered to celebrate the 60^th^ anniversary of the signing of the
United Nations charter. I, for one, was not celebrating. The U.N.'s
charter includes some lofty goals, but when the rubber meets the road,
the organization has failed miserably to put these ideals into
practice - especially in recent years.

President George Bush made the right decision when he tapped John Bolton
to serve as U.N. Ambassador. Ambassador Bolton's experience at the State
Department exposing the A.Q. Kahn arms network in Pakistan and in
persuading Libya to abandon its arms program will be invaluable in
shaping the U.N.'s role in battling the spread of Weapons of Mass
Destruction around the world.

Following a precedent set when President George Washington made a recess
appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court and carried on through President
Bill Clinton's 140 recess appointments, President Bush ended six months
of partisan stalemate in the Senate and cleared the path to begin the
serious work of confronting the U.N.'s problems. When Ambassador Bolton
calls for reform and accountability in the U.N., there will be no doubt
he speaks with the full authority of the Bush Administration.

Today, corruption is so rampant in the United Nations that I can barely
keep track of it all. Billions of dollars were diverted from the
Oil-for-Food program involving Saddam Hussein\'s Iraq. In addition, The
U.N. counts some of the world's leading human rights violators and state
sponsors of terrorism among its membership and even taps many of them to
be in leadership positions. U.N. peacekeepers raped and sexually abused
children in Bosnia, Congo, Sierra Leone, and elsewhere. And the
organization virtually ignored the genocide taking place in Darfur,
Sudan.

A culture of concealment exists that makes oversight of the U.N.'s
finances virtually impossible. And a casual attitude toward
conflict-of-interest rules undermines trust in the organization's basic
governance.

The status quo at the United Nations is unacceptable. American tax
dollars can no longer be funneled through the U.N.\'s inefficient
bureaucracy, where they are at the mercy of international actors who are
accountable to no one.

As a founding member of the U.N. and a permanent member of the U.N.
Security Council, our country has a duty to insist on a higher standard.
And as a Members of Congress, I have a duty to ensure accountability of
each and every American taxpayer dollar that is funneled into the U.N.

I am happy to report that I joined my colleagues in the House of
Representatives for passing the Henry J. Hyde United Nations Reform Act
of 2005, a comprehensive U.N. reform package developed to address the
organization's serious failings. This bill goes far towards reforming
the United Nations so that it can fulfill its mission of promoting peace
and democracy.

This bill includes 39 separate, certifiable reforms that the U.N. must
implement or else it will face a 50-percent withholding of funds from us
for its budget.

The reforms specified in the legislation are applauded by critics as
sensible and necessary. They include a code of conduct for peacekeepers,
an independent auditing agent inside the U.N., a rationalization of the
U.N.\'s budget that eliminates duplicative priorities and tougher
criteria for serving on U.N. human rights bodies.

Observers, including many within the U.N. itself, acknowledge the need
for these and other wide-ranging reforms \-- and many proposals have
been put forward to address them. The key difference between those
proposals and our legislation is that our bill contains an enforcement
mechanism. It makes U.S. financial contributions to the U.N. budget
contingent upon actual reforms being put into place. The competing
proposals have no such provision, and rely on simply a slap on the wrist
to persuade the U.N. to make changes.

History shows us that when Congress uses the power of the purse, the
U.N. acts. It is unfortunate, but true that sometimes it requires
financial ultimatums for the U.N. to move itself to act in its own best
interest and the best interest of the world community that it serves.

*Editor's Note: Virginia Foxx is a United States Representative from
North Carolina's Fifth Congressional District. You may contact her
office toll free at 1-866-677-8968 or e-mail her from her website,
[www.house.gov/foxx \<http://www.house.gov/foxx\>]{.underline}.*

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