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June 8, 2005
Hyde UN Reform Act is Damaging to U.S.
Foreign Policy Interests
Washington DC – Today, the House International
Relations Committee passed the United Nations Reform Act as introduced by
Chairman Henry Hyde (R-IL). The act would withhold U.S. dues to the UN until
U.S. officials certified reform of the international body. Citizens for Global
Solutions believes that the Hyde UN Reform Act is the absolute wrong way to
ensure that the United Nations is made more efficient, effective and
accountable. U.S. interests are better served by engaging the UN in its reform
process and providing it with adequate resources, rather than by holding the
international body hostage with the threat of withholding dues.
Don Kraus, Executive Vice President of Citizens for Global Solutions said, “The
history of UN reform demonstrates that withholding dues is not an effective
tool. During the 1990’s the U.S. built up over a billion dollars in arrears to
the UN, creating resentment and making it more difficult to achieve U.S. foreign
policy goals. The Hyde UN Reform Act will only further exacerbate our isolation
in the world community, at a time when we need allies.”
The upcoming UN Millennium Summit, to be held in New York in September, provides
a true forum for the Bush Administration to assist in the reforming of the UN in
U.S. interest. In fact, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has already laid out a
comprehensive reform agenda, in his report In Larger Freedom, which incorporates
many of the U.S.’s top priorities. However, the agenda set forth by the Hyde UN
Reform Act threatens to undercut this historic and golden opportunity.
The act, which will likely be brought to the House floor next week, will lead to
the U.S. withholding up to 50 percent of its UN dues, and would mandate changing
funding for many UN programs from an assessed to a voluntary basis. This will
create unnecessary and damaging resentment towards the United States at the UN,
will hinder the Bush Administration’s ability to pursue its top priorities,
including UN reform, and will subsequently weaken America’s tasks in Iraq,
Afghanistan and the war on terrorism.
As Mr. Kraus notes, “The United States shouldn’t start out
the September Summit meeting on the defensive by threatening to cut its UN dues.
The Bush Administration will be far more effective at achieving its goals if it
doesn’t alienate potential allies. If Congress truly wants a reformed, effective
UN that can support U.S. interests, it should not support legislation that
mandates withholding U.S. dues to the United Nations. Full funding of U.S.
financial obligations allows the U.S. to make a better case for the reforms it
wants to see at the UN.”
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Notes to Editors:
Citizens for Global Solutions is a grassroots membership organization that
envisions a future in which nations work together to abolish war, protect our
rights and freedoms, and solve the problems facing humanity that no nation can
solve alone. We promote effective democratic global institutions that will apply
the rule of law while respecting the diversity and autonomy of national and
local communities.
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Contact:
Don Kraus
Executive Vice President
202 546 3950 ext. 103
Sam Stein
Communications Associate
202 546 3950 ext. 123
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