III 109th CONGRESS 1st Session S. RES. 185 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 1 (legislative day, June 30), 2005 Mr. Smith (for himself and Mr. Nelson of Florida) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding reform of the United Nations.

Whereas, on July 28, 1945, the Senate approved the resolution advising and consenting to the ratification of the Charter of the United Nations by a vote of 89 to 2; Whereas recent events, including the United Nations oil-for-food scandal and sexual misconduct by United Nations peacekeepers, have led to declining public confidence in the United Nations; Whereas there is broad international agreement that the United Nations must reform its existing policies, practices, and institutions in order to better manage the interests of its 191 members and address the current threats to international peace and security; Whereas the future direction of the United Nations has recently been addressed in the report of the Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, issued on December 2, 2004, the report of the Secretary-General entitled In Larger Freedom: Toward Development, Security and Human Rights for All, issued on March 21, 2005, and the report of the congressionally mandated Task Force on the United Nations, convened by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), entitled American Interests and UN Reform, issued on June 15, 2005; Whereas these reports call for comprehensive reform of the United Nations, including overhauling basic management practices and building a more transparent, accountable, efficient, and effective organization; Whereas these reports highlight the deficiencies in the United Nations human rights bodies, in particular the practice of allowing countries that have violated human rights to sit on United Nations bodies that were established to monitor, promote, and enforce human rights; Whereas these reports highlight many serious problems with the United Nations peacekeeping operations that need to be addressed while the peacekeepers are deployed in critical situations around the world; Whereas these reports discuss the question of United Nations Security Council reform in an attempt to increase the effectiveness and credibility of the Security Council and to enhance its capacity and willingness to act in the face of threats; Whereas the USIP Task Force emphasized the importance that any reform of the United Nations Security Council must enhance its effectiveness and not in any way detract from the Security Council’s efficiency and ability to act in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations; and Whereas the United Nations has an important role to play in providing a forum for countries to discuss issues and resolve differences and to address the pressing humanitarian issues and security threats of the day: Now, therefore, be it

That the Senate— (1)declares that a credible, effective, and reformed United Nations can play an important role in helping promote global peace and security; (2)reaffirms that reform of the United Nations Security Council would necessitate a revision of the Charter of the United Nations, which would constitute a treaty revision requiring an affirmative vote in the Senate by a two-thirds majority; (3)states that the United Nations and its subsidiary bodies and agencies must be reformed, refocused, and made more efficient, and must become more transparent and more accountable; (4)declares that oversight of the United Nations must be improved, that the management systems and budgeting processes of the institution must be updated and modified, and that protections for whistleblowers employed by the United Nations must be implemented; (5)states that the United Nations Human Rights Commission should be abolished and replaced by a United Nations Human Rights Council or other body composed of governments that are committed to upholding human rights; (6)declares that the reforms described above must be implemented before the Senate will consider changes to the Charter of the United Nations that require the advice and consent of the Senate; and (7)urges the Secretary of State— (A)to provide the Senate the Secretary of State's recommendations for reform of the United Nations; and (B)to consult fully and regularly with the Senate as deliberations on United Nations reform progress.