TALKING POINTS: MANDATE REVIEW

With the release of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's report on mandate review, spring cleaning at the United Nations is officially underway. A mandate is simply a direction for action from a principal organ of the UN (such as the General Assembly, the Security Council, or the Economic and Social Council) to the UN Secretariat or a specific UN agency. Over the years, some mandates have become repetitive or have outlived their usefulness. Annan's report presents a unique opportunity to freshen things up a bit in Turtle Bay. 

Use these talking points in speeches, meetings, articles, and other communications to stress the importance of a strong and effective United Nations.

• Mandate review is spring cleaning at the UN
  It's a truly historic process: countries will sort through over 9,000 mandates and eliminate duplicative and unnecessary programs. Nothing like this has taken place at the UN since 1954; countries are committed to making the most of it.

• The UN is shining some light on the problem
  The process is extremely transparent. The UN Secretariat has even created a user-friendly, searchable, online registry of mandates.

• Clean out the cobwebs before throwing out the furniture
  There's plenty that all countries should be able to agree on during the mandate review. Getting these quick wins first will build momentum and help us prevail on some of the more controversial issues.

• Spray the Windex, don't spill the ammonia
  As is the case in un_minute/minute_032306_management_reform.html"> management and operations reform, developing countries are concerned that the U.S. wants to stop the UN's work on problems that matter to them.  A heavy-handed approach will reinforce that notion and could stop us from reaching our very achievable goals.

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un_minute/minute_040606_human_rights_council_candidacy.html"> THE LAST MINUTE - HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL:

• Don't stay on the sidelines, get in the game

• Abandoning core values and a tradition of leadership

• The U.S. advertised a product that we no longer stock

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