[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
PERSONNEL IS POLICY: U.N. ELECTIONS AND U.S. LEADERSHIP IN
INTERNATIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
AND GLOBAL CORPORATE SOCIAL IMPACT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
November 18, 2021
__________
Serial No. 117-92
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/, http://docs.house.gov,
or http://www.govinfo.gov
___________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
46-095PDF WASHINGTON : 2022
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York, Chairman
BRAD SHERMAN, California MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas, Ranking
ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey Member
GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey
THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
KAREN BASS, California SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania
WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts DARRELL ISSA, California
DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois
AMI BERA, California LEE ZELDIN, New York
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas ANN WAGNER, Missouri
DINA TITUS, Nevada BRIAN MAST, Florida
TED LIEU, California BRIAN FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania KEN BUCK, Colorado
DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota MARK GREEN, Tennessee
COLIN ALLRED, Texas ANDY BARR, Kentucky
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan GREG STEUBE, Florida
ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, Virginia DAN MEUSER, Pennsylvania
CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania AUGUST PFLUGER, Texas
TOM MALINOWSKI, New Jersey PETER MEIJER, Michigan
ANDY KIM, New Jersey NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS, New York
SARA JACOBS, California RONNY JACKSON, Texas
KATHY MANNING, North Carolina YOUNG KIM, California
JIM COSTA, California MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, Florida
JUAN VARGAS, California JOE WILSON, South Carolina
VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas
BRAD SCHNEIDER, Illinois
Sophia Lafargue, Staff Director
Brendan Shields, Republican Staff Director
------
Subcommittee on International Development, International Organizations
and Global Corporate Social Impact
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas, Chairman
SARA JACOBS, California NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS, New York,
BRAD SHERMAN, California Ranking Member
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota CHRISTOPHER SMITH, New Jersey
CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania DARRELL ISSA, California
ANDY KIM, New Jersey LEE ZELDIN, New York
C O N T E N T S
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Page
WITNESSES
Barks-Ruggles, Ambassador Erica, Senior Bureau Official, Bureau
of International Organization Affairs, U.S. Department of State 7
APPENDIX
Hearing Notice................................................... 31
Hearing Minutes.................................................. 32
Hearing Attendance............................................... 33
RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
Responses to questions submitted for the record.................. 34
PERSONNEL IS POLICY: U.N. ELECTIONS AND U.S. LEADERSHIP IN
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Thursday, November 18, 2021
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on International Development,
International Organizations, and Global Corporate
Social Impact,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m., in
room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Joaquin Castro
(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. Castro. The Subcommittee on International Development,
International Organizations, and Global Corporate Social Impact
will come to order.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you to our witness for being
here today for this hearing entitled ``Personnel is Policy:
U.N. Elections and U.S. Leadership in International
Organizations.''
Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a
recess of the committee at any point, and all members will have
5 days to submit statements, extraneous material, and questions
for the record, subject to length limitation in our rules. To
insert something into the record, please have your staff email
the document to the previously mentioned address, or contact
subcommittee staff.
As a reminder to members joining remotely, please keep your
video function on at all times even when you are not recognized
by the chair. Members are responsible for muting and unmuting
themselves. And please remember to mute yourself after you
finish speaking.
Consistent with the H. Res. 8 and the accompanying
regulations, staff will only mute members and witnesses as
appropriate when they are not under recognition to eliminate
background noise. I also ask members who are present in the
hearing room to keep their masks on when they are not speaking.
I see that we have a quorum and will now recognize myself
for opening remarks.
Pursuant to notice, we are holding a hearing today on the
United States' engagement with the United Nations and other
international organizations, upcoming leadership elections at
the United Nations, and the Biden Administration's policies to
more effectively engage with these multilateral bodies.
After the Second World War, the United States worked with
our allies and adversaries to create the United Nations, the
entity that is at the foundation of today's international
system. Much of world's diplomacy is centered around the United
Nations and its various component agencies and offices. The
work at the United Nations today covers everything from nuclear
nonproliferation to human rights to the standards that
determine how technology will be developed.
It is essential that the United States stays deeply engaged
with the U.N. To preserve and advance our interests within this
international system, using diplomacy and negotiation instead
of conflict and coercion.
I called this hearing today to understand from the
Administration and the State Department how they will do that,
including when it comes to key elections to U.N. bodies.
We know what it looks like when the United States' approach
isn't well-coordinated. And I will give you an example of that.
The heads of U.N. bodies are determined by elections where
member States build coalitions and support candidates that
reflect their values. In 2019, the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization was scheduled to elect its director
general, someone who would have a key role in setting
international policy on agriculture and food security. The
United States, under the last Administration, approached this
critical election without a clear strategy or goal. Not only
did we split with our European allies, reports indicate that
the State Department and the Department of Agriculture, both
agencies that work with the Food and Agriculture Organization,
weren't on the same page on which candidate to back.
Ultimately, the Government of China was able to get one of
its senior government officials elected to the office, a
serious setback for the United States and for our European
allies and allies around the world.
The lessons of this experience are why I am encouraged to
see the Biden Administration and the Blinken State Department
make concrete efforts to better coordinate our work in
international organizations. This year, the State Department
created the new Office of Multilateral Strategy amd Personnel
that will coordinate the actions of the United States on these
elections.
I am also encouraged to see the Administration's early and
vocal support of Ms. Doreen Bogdan-Martin's candidacy to lead
the International Telecommunications Union during the upcoming
fall 2022 elections. I had the opportunity to meet with Ms.
Bogdan-Martin recently and believe she would be an effective
leader of the ITU, an organization where major decisions on
standards and technology are set.
Other major elections are looming, including for the
International Labor Organization, the World Health
Organization, Interpol, and others.
I hope to hear from the Administration on their approaches
to these contests as well. I would also like to hear from the
Administration on what they will do to expand the use of tools,
like the Junior Professional Officer Program, which allows
countries to sponsor young professionals to work at the United
Nations, or the use of existing authorities to allow U.S.
Federal Government employees to be detailed to international
organizations.
I believe the State Department should be proactive in
identifying where these opportunities are, building awareness
of them within the rest of the Department and with other
Federal agencies, and coordinating the placement of these
individuals.
We have seen some Federal agencies, such as the Centers for
Disease Control, make good use of these authorities to place
employees in international organizations, but these efforts
across the Federal Government are uneven and inconsistent. We
need a more strategic approach that the State Department can
provide.
This year I introduced the Restoring U.S. Leadership in
International Organizations Act of 2021. The legislation will
strengthen the State Department's ability to do just that. And
I am glad that key parts of the bill are now included in this
committee's EAGLE Act, which is currently being debated by the
Congress.
The President will convene a summit for democracy this
December, which will kick off a year of action to advance
democratic values. In the spirit of advancing democratic
values, it is essential that the United States does everything
we can to ensure that international organizations do not become
the means by which authoritarian powers entrench their
policies.
And, with that, I will turn it over to Ranking Member
Malliotakis for her opening statement.
Ms. Malliotakis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling this
important hearing. I look forward to working with you and the
rest of the committee members to conduct important oversight of
our engagement with the United Nations and other international
organizations.
Ambassador, thank you for being here and for your service
with the State Department.
This hearing comes at a pivotal time. In recent years, we
have seen the United States-led international order challenged
as rogue States like China and Russia seek to advance their
authoritarian agendas and undermine sovereignty in places like
Ukraine and the South China Sea.
As we saw in the early stages of COVID-19, international
organizations often oppose our national interests. The World
Health Organization routinely parroted Chinese Communist Party
talking points, which conflict with statements made by their
own experts, leaving the American people exposed to the havoc
that COVID-19 would wreak on our Nation.
Instead of serving the American people who fund them, the
bureaucrats at the WHO continuously kowtow to President Xi and
his cronies, genocidal actors whose goal is to remake the world
in their Communist image.
China's bad behavior has not been limited to the WHO. They
have consistently sought to exclude Taiwan from international
organizations in general, including the International Civil
Aviation Organization. And, during the early days of the COVID-
19 pandemic, ICAO, which was then headed by a Chinese national,
blocked users on Twitter who requested Taiwan be allowed to
participate in COVID-19 response efforts at the organization.
Those blocks included think tank analysts and journalists. Such
behavior is exemplary of China's approach to Taiwan's
participation in international organizations.
The United Nations and international organizations more
broadly often oppose our national interests. Last month, the
United States was elected to the U.N. Human Rights Council, a
fundamentally corrupt body with a track record of protecting
dictatorships and covering up the crimes of the world's worst
human rights abusers. It is astounding that China, Russia,
Venezuela, Cuba all have seats at the table at the supposed
shrine of human rights in Geneva. It is laughable. Nicolas
Maduro, dictator in Venezuela, was speaking at the opening
session earlier this year. And, additionally, the council has
focused its efforts on persecuting Israel, the only country
permanently featured on the council's agenda as its own item.
This Administration has done nothing to drive real reform
at the council. These reforms should have been a prerequisite
for the U.S. reengaging with the council--something that I had
suggested time and again--let alone seeking election to it, not
a lofty goal left to be achieved sometime in the future.
The same can be said for the President's decision to
unilaterally rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change
without congressional consultation. While costing Americans
trillions of dollars, the agreements permits the world's
largest carbon emitter, China, to make meager contributions.
Under the agreement, the CCP may continue raising carbon
emissions until 2030, destroying our environment and
contributing to climate change every step of the way.
When the United States engages with the United Nations, its
agencies, or other international organizations, we bring not
only our values but also our financial contributions. The U.S.
accounts for roughly one quarter of both the regular and
peacekeeping budgets at the United Nations, yet our influence
rarely measures up to our contributions.
Chairman Castro, I look forward to working with you to
conduct rigorous oversight on U.S. engagement with the United
Nations and other international organizations. We have a duty
to the American taxpayer to ensure that our engagement with
these institutions is targeted, strategic, and advances America
first interest abroad. Otherwise, we are wasting our time and
our constituents' money. Again, I want to thank the witness for
being here today, and I look forward to your testimony.
Mr. Castro. Thank you, ranking member.
I will now introduce our distinguished witness with us
today. Our witness is Ambassador Erica Barks-Ruggles, the
Senior Bureau Official at the Department of State's Bureau of
International Organization Affairs. She is a career Foreign
Service officer who previously served as a U.S. Ambassador to
the Republic of Rwanda. She has also served as the U.S. Council
General in Cape Town, South Africa, as Deputy U.S. Permanent
Representative to the United Nations.
And I will now recognize our witness for 5 minutes. And,
without objection, your prepared written statements will be
made part of the record. Ambassador Barks-Ruggles, you are
recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF AMBASSADOR ERICA BARKS-RUGGLES, SENIOR BUREAU
OFFICIAL, BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION AFFAIRS, U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Good morning, and thank you Chairman
Castro, Ranking Member Malliotakis, and the members of the
Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations for
having me here today.
Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the United States
has re-engaged vigorously on the multilateral stage to support
key U.S. priorities. We have rejoined the Paris Agreement. We
have recommitted to the World Health Organization, and we have
been reelected to Human Rights Council.
But U.S. leadership in the U.N. system involves more than
simply signing on to existing institutions or re-engaging with
U.N. bodies. We are leading with the power of our example,
rekindling old alliances and forging new partnerships.
For example, the United States is by far the largest single
country contributor to COVAX, and we are making hundreds of
millions of doses of vaccine available without political
strings attached. At the U.N. Climate Change Conference that
ended recently, the United States showed a whole-of-government
response to the climate crisis. And we are mobilizing the
necessary investment in technologies to promote good jobs in
the United States while growing a prosperous net-zero emissions
economy in the U.S. and globally.
We must ensure that the U.N. system as a key global
platform in all of these efforts is strong and resilient and
able to uphold the fundamental values of democracy, justice,
transparency and respect for individual human rights. We are
committed to ensuring that the U.N. Has the skilled, well-
qualified, and capable leadership and personnel it needs to
respond to global challenges.
One of the IO Bureau's co-responsibilities is to lead the
State Department's efforts in the appointment and election of
qualified, independent U.S. and likeminded candidates to
leadership positions throughout the U.N. system. As you
mentioned, Mr. Chairman, this is critical to ensure the U.N.
operates effectively and bolsters reform and good governance
that the ranking member has underlined as so important.
Thanks to funding that Congress provided earlier this year,
our Bureau stood up the Office of Multilateral Strategy amd
Personnel, known by an acronym, of course, as IO/MSP, to
reinforce U.S. leadership and priorities, including on priority
elections and appointments. IO/MSP coordinates with rest of the
Department to ensure the Administration advances an affirmative
agenda that revitalizes and expands partnerships in support of
a rules-based international order. This includes countering the
efforts of countries, such as the People's Republic of China
and Russia, to reshape and underline international law,
institutions, and standards.
Since April 2021, the U.S. has won five U.N. elections,
including a seat on the Human Rights Council and electing
independent American experts to the Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Committee Against
Torture, the International Narcotics Control Board, and the
International Civil Service Commission.
Looking ahead, a top U.S. Government priority is the
candidacy of Ms. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, who is running against a
Russian candidate to become the next Secretary General of the
International Telecommunicatons Union, the ITU. With three
decades of experience in the telecom sector, Ms. Bogdan-Martin
would be the first woman to head the ITU in its 156-year
history if she is elected. Her election would also help expand
universal connectivity and uphold an open and multistakeholder
approach to internet governance against State-led models urged
by some authoritarian nations.
In addition to leadership positions, IO promotes U.S.
employment in the U.N. system more broadly, including through
expanding the opportunities for Americans in the U.N.'s Junior
Professional Officer Program, known as the JPO Program, and
broadening outreach to all Americans interested in a U.N.
career. We appreciate the JPO funding that has been provided
through the IO & P account. This funding is currently
restricted, however, to positions only within the U.N.
Secretariat, and we look forward to working with Congress to
expand our JPO efforts more broadly through the U.N. system.
IO has also funded technology-based solutions to ensure
that we use the best and most current data to manage elections
and personnel and to make decisions in the future. With
congressional support, we are planning to build customized data
bases and analytic tools to manage multilateral elections,
organize U.S. employment efforts, and track U.N. member States'
voting histories to improve U.S. negotiating expertise and
inform policymaking.
While personnel is paramount, the Department also
scrutinized draft resolutions and other documents to ensure
they reflect international values, not the ideology of foreign
policy initiatives of individual States. When we see language
that runs counter to U.S. interests, U.N. values, or
international law, we coordinate engagements with other
countries to contest that. We also support Taiwan's meaningful
participation throughout the U.N. system, including at the WHO
and in ICAO.
In short, we are back to make sure that the U.N. advances
the interests of the United States and the American people.
I thank you for your interest in these issues and the
opportunity to appear today, and I look forward to your
questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Barks-Rubbles follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Castro. Thank you, Ambassador, for your testimony. And
thank you for helping us lead the world again.
I will now recognize members for 5 minutes each. And,
pursuant to House rules, all time yielded is for the purposes
of questioning our witnesses. Because of the hybrid format of
this hearing, I will recognize members by committee seniority,
alternating between the majority and the minority. If you miss
your turn, please let our staff know, and we will recognize
you, but we will circle back to you. If you seek recognition,
you must unmute your microphone and address the chair verbally.
And I will start by recognizing myself, but actually before
I do, for the members I have, especially the folks that are on
the video, please be sure to watch the 5-minute timer so that
we can keep our questions to 5 minutes, you know, within a few
seconds or whatever. And, since we only have one witness, we
may actually have time for a second round of questions again if
time permits. So I will start by recognizing myself.
Ambassador, the United States' work with international
organizations runs across the State Department and across
multiple Federal agencies, as you know. Over two dozen parts of
the U.S. Government provide funding to different international
organizations, and individual bureaus at the State Department
handle policy toward different organizations. I think it is
important to make sure that the State Department plays the key
role when it comes to foreign affairs, and by that I mean, the
State Department, not DHS, not DOJ, or another agency.
How will the State Department make sure that U.S. policy
across the Federal Government is coordinated when it comes to
elections and placement? And will the State Department set up
an interagency mechanism to streamline that coordination? And
can you describe your outreach efforts to build awareness of
the opportunities for Federal employees to be detailed to
international organizations? And what barriers do you see in
fully using that authority?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for
your question. The State Department is indeed in the lead on
our efforts in international organizations. And with the help
of this Congress and the setting up of the IO/MSP Office, we
have reinforced that effort over the course of the last 9
months. This has been an important effort because it has
required everybody to be more coordinated within the State
Department but also in the interagency, and it has allowed us
to recapture the leadership effort to make sure that we are
coordinated.
So let me give you a couple of examples. Our IO/MSP
Office--and I have our new director here with me today, Mr.
Andy Shaw--has set up several units, one of which is on the
strategic competition side, working to develop and implement
efforts to address strategic competition across the U.N.
system, whether that be language, access for Taiwan, and also
making sure that we are placing people in the correct positions
throughout the U.N. system.
A second unit is working on electoral campaigns or U.S.
officials and American citizens across the system. And so this
unit has done things like--I brought some examples today--
producing campaign materials, including from Ms. Bogdan-
Martin--I have also her pin, and I am happy to share those with
folks--to make sure that we are putting forth at an early stage
our efforts on electoral campaigns and to strongly back with
the backing of the entire American Government, not just the
State Department. We have the Commerce Department. We have our
private sector working with us to make sure that we have a
coordinated, well-managed campaign for Ms. Bogdan-Martin and
for our candidates across the U.N. system.
And then a third area is the placement of U.S. citizens
from the JPO level, the very junior professional officer level
throughout. So we have put in place Standard Operating
Procedures about how we advertise U.N. positions that are
available. So those are now publicly available, we link to the
U.N. system, and we are working with folks who are interested
and applying for jobs to make sure that we are advocating for
them. If they are Americans who are applying for jobs and they
make themselves known to us, we are then advocating for their
placement in the U.N. system. Whether they are coming from
inside the government or coming from the private sector, we
make sure they are well-qualified. We make sure that they have
the requisite expertise for the job they are applying for, but
we are also working with other agencies. So, if it is a law
enforcement position, with the DOJ; if it is for something in
FAO, we make sure that Agriculture is aware of those citizens
and is working with us to make sure that they get those
placements.
So this is the beginning, not the end, but we appreciate
the support, and we look forward to working with this committee
to strengthen that effort.
Mr. Castro. Great. And you may have to take part of the
next question for the record because I only got about 45
seconds left. But I support the Administration's decision to
create this Office of Multilateral Strategy amd Personnel where
you have asked for the funding for five staff positions. This
is in contrast to the efforts before that drew down the number
of State Department employees with this portfolio to zero.
So what is the status of this office getting set up and
operational? And what are its early priorities? Do you have any
constraints when it comes to authorities or funding for the
office to effectively do its job? We got like 10 seconds, so
maybe for the record.
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Just very briefly. We are hiring now for
the office. When it is fully staffed, it will have 15 members,
plus a Deputy Assistant Secretary. We are about half staffed at
this point. We look forward to filling the rest of those
positions shortly.
Mr. Castro. Wonderful. Thank you.
I now recognize Ranking Member Malliotakis for her
questions.
Ms. Malliotakis. Thank you. Ambassador, part of the
frustration of the American people is that they fear our
country is making bad deals that put us at a disadvantage. You
mentioned three things that the Biden Administration has done
since taking office: re-entering the Paris accord, re-entering
WHO, and re-entering the U.N. Human Rights Council. However,
they did so enter the Paris accord without demanding a level
playing field from China or India. They re-entered this accord
without any changes that would give America an advantage, or at
least a level playing field.
With regards to the World Health Organization, they didn't
even demand an investigation into the origins. And, you know,
as evidence points to the Wuhan lab and more Americans want
accountability, the President said he was going to do a 90-day
review, and then nothing happened after that. It was just a,
you know, kicking the can down the road.
With regards to the U.N. Human Rights Council, there was no
plan to eliminate bad actors on the Council. And I still do not
hear a plan from this Administration on how we are going to get
rid of those egregious human rights violators: Russia, China,
Cuba, Venezuela.
So the question is, why should the American people have
faith that their--our participation and their tax dollars that
significantly fund, for the majority of the funding in these
organizations, are going to be utilized in a strategic manner
when we are giving away the store, we are going back to a
negotiation that we saw under President Obama, giving away our
leverage, giving away our funding without getting anything in
return, at least any commitments that--level the playing field
if not going to put America first?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Thank you, Ranking Member, for your
question. Let me address, first, the Human Rights Council. This
is a body which we share your concerns about. The membership is
far from perfect, and it contains some of very problematic
countries that have gross human rights abusers on the Council.
We agreed that we need to work hard to improve that membership.
We have been working with like-minded allies to recruit better
candidates because the candidate pool has to be better in order
to get folks elected. And we agree with you that that is
something that we need to focus on and that we will be focusing
on as we move forward.
We also agree that there are reform efforts that are
needed. We have seen, when we are not present, however, that it
creates a vacuum that has actually made the situation worse. We
have seen rising language pushed by authoritarian governments
in a number of resolutions which have undermined the individual
human rights values on which the very Council is founded. So we
need to be present to fight for those values, to fight for
American democratic values, and individual human rights, but
also to improve the Council. And we believe that that is
important.
I will briefly address the WHO. We agree that the initial
response to the pandemic globally should have been better and
could have been better. We have pushed very hard for the WHO to
undertake a rigorous scientific-based investigation into the
origins of COVID. And we were quite critical of the first
origins report which was published in April. We are pleased
that the WHO since then has launched a followup in the origins
2 investigation effort that is based on science. They have put
together a SAGO, which is a group of experts, scientific
experts from around the world, to look at their origins in this
second report, and we are pushing for that to go forward.
Ms. Malliotakis. Well, I hope they will take a much
stronger approach in what we have seen, both against the Human
Rights Council, because I have not seen anything from the
Ambassador truly speaking out against the egregious violations
of those countries that sit on this Human Rights Council.
Obviously, makes it a farce, this Council. And we need to
reform it. And I would like to see more speaking in support of
that.
And, also with WHO, I mean, it is so critically important
that this Administration gets serious about working with the
international partners to get to the bottom, so, No. 1, we can
prevent it from happening again, but, also, we can push back on
this rhetoric from the Communist Chinese Party that we are
seeing, saying now that this virus--they are saying was created
in a U.S. Army base in Maryland. It is outrageous. And we need
to play a stronger role. We cannot allow these bad actors to
get away with this. And I appreciate it. I would love to hear
more about the Paris accord in the next round. Thank you.
Mr. Castro. All right. Sounds good. Next we have the vice
chair of our committee, Ms. Sara Jacobs, Congressman Jacobs.
Ms. Jacobs. Well, thank you so much, Mr. Chair. And I
really appreciate you putting--hosting this hearing.
As an American who worked at the United Nations, I can tell
you that we are few and far between in that organization, and
it will be great to get more folks in there.
As was mentioned in the chair's testimony and the witness'
testimony, we have that International Telecommunication Union
vote coming up for the next Secretary General. I actually know
Doreen Bogdan-Martin. We worked together when I was at UNICEF
and running an organization, and I think she is wonderful. She
has three decades of experience. And the stakes are clearly
very high.
But, Ambassador Barks-Ruggles, I was hoping if you could
just, for the record, explain for the committee why this
election is so important.
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Thank you very much, Member Jacobs. The
election to the ITU is critically important because the ITU's
work and mandate are important to U.S. defense, to space, to
development, and to our economic interest. This campaign has
broad interagency support because of that. The ITU is partly
responsible for internet and telecommunications governance. It
was set up 156 years ago, well before the U.N. itself, to
allocate bandwidth across telecommunications. That is still
part of its primary purpose and is absolutely essential when
you look at WiFi infrastructure and telecommunications
infrastructure on which our committee depends. This is an
absolutely critical institution, and we need to have a leader
who reflects our values but who also will help ensure the
development of telecoms across the globe is based on a
multistakeholder approach with the values of openness,
transparency, and efficiency that we need to see to make this
sector as efficient and as transparent as possible for the
benefit of our companies as well as for the benefit of those of
our allies, friends, and partners around the world.
Ms. Jacobs. Well, thank you. And how can Congress best help
the State Department in this election?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Thank you. As Representative Castro has
said, as Chairman Castro has said, I know a number of Members
of Congress have already met with Ms. Bogdan-Martin, and she
will be coming back to meet with other Members of Congress. We
think it is important to highlight why the ITU matters and also
to work with the private sector to make sure that they are
involved in this. I know that Members of Congress have been
extremely supportive of her election, and we look forward to
working with you as we move forward with her campaign and
making sure that the American people understand why this
matters.
Ms. Jacobs. Well, thank you so much. And please count my
office in to help with whatever we can do.
I wanted to switch topics a little bit. A recent article in
the Journal of Democracy found that China has used its seat on
the U.N. Economic and Social Council's Committee on NGO's to
block applications from civil society organizations seeking
consultative status to participate in important U.N.
activities, like gaining access to sessions and speaking at
events. These activities are very critical to make sure that
civil society's voice is heard and consulted when really big
decisions are being made.
So we have talked a lot about electing good candidates to
prevent these kinds of situations. But what else can be done at
the U.N. to mitigate or prevent this misuse of a U.N. seat? And
what else have you seen this type of behavior by China or other
countries?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Yes, this is one of those places where
nefarious things can happen because it is fairly obscure. The
ECOSOC NGO Committee's current membership is, unfortunately,
not great and is fairly hostile it NGO's, reflecting a global
trend that restricts civil society space in international
organizations. We have serious concerns about restriction of
civil society, and we have been pushing very hard with the U.N.
Secretariat and in the Committee and with other allies to make
sure that we walk back those efforts and ensure that the
Committee's work is open, transparent, and accessible to civil
society, and that the U.N. is open and transparent and
accessible to civil society.
We were pleased that just yesterday the new President of
the General Assembly held on open meeting with members of civil
society and has pledged that they will have renewed access
post-COVID, starting in January of next year to the U.N.
headquarters building as it had before.
Ms. Jacobs. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate all of
your work on that.
And, Mr. Chair, I yield back.
Mr. Castro. Thank you, Vice Chair.
We will now go to Representative Houlahan.
Mr. Issa. Really?
Ms. Houlahan. No, I think you should go to Mr. Issa.
Mr. Castro. Darrell, I didn't see you on the video. There
you are. All right.
First, we are going to go to Darrell Issa. He was off video
for a second. Please.
Mr. Issa. Yes, no problem. I have always thought, every
time a take a sip of coffee, I should probably be off video.
But, Ambassador, thank you so much for giving us so much of
your time today. I am going to focus on the free people of
Taiwan. As you know all too well, when Richard Nixon made the
decision to recognize mainland China, rather than two Chinas,
he made a decision to switch the recognition from one country
to another. But as effectively happened as a result is, with
only a couple of exceptions, no one recognizes Taiwan as an
independent country, and those who continued to, China has used
its vaccine and other techniques to essentially bribe/extort or
attempt to extort a change in recognition. That is at the same
time as they are building islands, threatening both Taiwan and
likely Japan and the other countries in the region.
In your testimony, you said you wanted to support Taiwan.
Currently, Taiwan is treated as a noncitizen at the WHO and a
host of other U.N. activities. They clearly do not get--by the
way, includes the access to vaccine--they do not get treated
as, if you will, part of China by China. What, specifically,
will you be doing to ensure access to the free people of Taiwan
to standing as necessary in agencies, particularly, since it is
very clear that China does not share if you ask them to help
Taiwan?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Thank you for your important question.
We will continue the U.S. policy of supporting Taiwan's
meaningful participation in the U.N. and its related
organizations. We are working closely with friends and allies
on this issue to facilitate their ability to contribute to
efforts on public health at the WHA and in other health
organizations, in law enforcement efforts, in civil aviation
safety, and on other issues.
We also are concerned in three areas. One, access. We
believe that Taiwan's citizens should have access to U.N.
buildings, U.N. headquarters, and be able to contribute, and we
continue to press for that to happen. We are also concerned
about nomenclature and efforts to change the way that Taiwan is
referred to in U.N. documents, and we will continue to push
back on that. And as I said, we will continue to press for
Taiwan to have meaningful participation in areas where its
expertise and experiences can contribute to responses to things
like pandemics, but also to aviation safety around the world.
Mr. Issa. Thank you, Ambassador. And just following up, you
know, you have used the term appropriately you will continue as
previous Administrations, but each Administration has seen more
threats to Taiwan. As you know, Taiwan represents as much as 80
percent of the supply chain of integrated circuits chips to the
United States and similar amounts to many other countries of
the world.
Do you believe--and I know policy is always difficult to
say on the fly--but do you believe that the United States has
an obligation to use the United Nations in order to spell out
or reiterate the prohibition on the taking of China, either
directly, militarily, or through economic coercion by China?
And isn't the United Nations an appropriate venue to bolster
that security rather than simply sending our fleets to confront
China in the strait?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Thank you. There are a number of
different venues where we have spoken very plainly and very
recently about our commitment to Taiwan's security. And I think
I will let those statements stand for themselves. I think they
are important, and we will continue to press on our consistent
policy in defense of Taiwan.
Mr. Issa. And I guess, last, specifically, at the WHO, what
reforms--if you are able to maneuver, you know, the United
States having influence over China--would you bring about to
prevent the kind of misinformation we saw from the WHO during
the early parts of the pandemic?
Mr. Castro. You can take that one for the record.
Mr. Issa, your time is up, but we are going to have a
second round.
Mr. Issa. Thank you.
Mr. Castro. OK. We will go to Representative Houlahan.
Ms. Houlahan. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
And thank you so much for joining us today.
My first question has to do with, earlier this year, I
reintroduced legislation to authorize an annual U.S.
contribution to the UNFPA, or the United Nations Population
Fund, and with more than a hundred of my colleagues as
cosponsors to that legislation. And I am really happy to see
that the Biden Administration committed and restored funding to
the UNFPA after the prior Administration ended its support.
The previous Administration was not the first GOP
Administration to end support for UNFPA, despite its important
work in supporting women and girls around the world. I was
wondering if you might be able to speak to the consequences of
the inconsistency of U.S. contributions to international
organizations like the UNFPA, particularly in the context of
the increased influence of authoritarian countries. And I was
wondering, how do periodic halts in the U.S. UNFPA dues impact
broader U.S. personnel and policymaking objectives?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Thank you, Representative Houlahan, and
thank you, again, to Congress for your support for U.N.
institutions and for these important efforts.
As you know, we have been strongly supportive of the UNFPA,
as well as ensuring that women, girls, and gender issues are
clearly addressed throughout the U.N. system, whether that is
in UNICEF, in UNFPA, in the U.N. Human Rights Council, and in
other organizations. Because we believe that women's rights are
human rights and women's development is global development. So
we appreciate very much your support.
We believe that the U.S. has enduring and long-term
interests in international institutions and the multilateral
system. And we appreciate very much this committee's support
for continuing and long-term support for the U.N. because we
believe that when we are present--and we have seen that when we
are present, that the U.S. can and does lead in making policy
and ensuring that U.S. values are embedded in U.N. policies and
in U.N. institutions. When we are not present, there are
authoritarian States who fill that vacuum. And that is not in
our interests, not in our security interests, not in our
national interests, not in our economic interests. So we think
it is important for us to be present, and it is important for
us to be leading.
Ms. Houlahan. Thank you. I appreciate that, and I, of
course, agree.
My second question has to do with STEM and technology and
that general space and about the status of a new technology
that I understand is under development.
You mentioned in your opening statements the importance of
technology-based solutions to complement your office's
multilateral engagement. And, as an engineer and STEM advocate
myself, I am really interested in learning more about this
initiative and about the potential for customized data bases
and analytical tools that support negotiations, multilateral
elections, and American citizen engagement and employment,
which is from your opening statement.
Could you elaborate on the technological improvements that
you referenced, and what is the status and timeline? And how
would this improve your office's mission and increase American
citizens' engagement?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Thank you. Yes, we are working still at
the very beginning stages. We have only just--I believe it was
about 4 weeks ago--brought on the first staff members in our
new office, IO/MSP, looking at how do we track elections, how
do we track voting, how do we make sure that we have constant
efforts to get that data in a format that is usable, not just
for our Bureau but throughout the interagency so that we can
better coordinate on elections, so that we can better
coordinate on policies, and we can better coordinate on vote
campaigns.
So we are at the beginning stages of that. I would say our
projected timeline to build out that office and build out that
capability is over the next year to 18 months. And what we
would like to do then is have that be a constant. So you will
see in our budget request for Fiscal Year 2022 that we included
a small allocation for that effort, and we believe that it is
important for us to be able to build on that as we go forward.
And so we hope to see that included in the future as well
because we think it is important to be able to track this over
time, which is something that we haven't done as consistently
as we would like to.
Ms. Houlahan. And, so with the final seconds of my time,
that leads into my very last question. Other than the funding
that you have requested, is there any other barriers or
anything else that we can be doing to be helpful?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Thank you. We have a number of requests
in our budget proposal for both personnel, as well as resources
for that, and your support for those is very important to us.
Ms. Houlahan. I appreciate your time, and I yield back, Mr.
Chair.
Mr. Castro. Thank you, Representative Houlahan.
We will now go to Representative Tenney.
Ms. Tenney. Thank you, Chairman Castro, and thank you for
convening this meeting.
Thank you also to our ranking member.
When international organizations work effectively, and the
United States is rightly their biggest supporter. There are far
too many of these organizations that have lost sight of their
intended missions, and some fail to even advance American
interests, as many of these institutions, mainly U.N. entities,
are increasingly being lead in staff by nationals of countries
that are U.S. competitors and adversaries, particularly China
and Russia. We not only need to strengthen U.S. leadership in
these organizations but also ensure they are transparent,
effective, and actually advance the causes of liberty in rules-
based order. This isn't anything new. I have worked at a
foreign consulate, and this was something that, you know, is
going to be around for a while, which brings me to my first
question. Despite some success by the United States, the U.N.
still lacks the appropriate levels of financial transparency in
reporting on outcomes. Major donor States, including the United
States lack access to reasonable--and reasonably detailed,
reliable reports and information made available by these single
country trust funds, as well as the outcomes and results
stemming from United Nations' activities.
How is the United States working to increase this
transparency and getting these nations to reveal where they are
being funded behind the scenes so we can actually get to who is
really, you know, the money base behind them?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Representative Tenney, your questions
are very important because we agree a hundred percent that
transparency and being able to understand how effective the
U.N. is, what they are spending the money on and what the
outcomes are, is really, really important. It is crucial for
the U.S. taxpayer to understand that, for our contributions,
but it is also crucial for us to understand it globally.
So one of the things that we have been doing is working
very hard in each individual organization to make sure that we
are placing competent, well-qualified folks in the
administrative structures who are pushing for that
transparency.
So, for example, we just placed the Deputy Director General
for IOM, the International Organization for Migration, to which
we are the largest voluntary contributor, an American citizen
who has long experience in that area in the new DG spot for
Administration so that we can better track, not just the input
of our----
Ms. Tenney. Can I just reclaim my time for a second? How
exactly are you tracking that, though? And what mechanisms are
being put in place so we can actually track it other than just
overseeing it and saying ``we are hoping you comply''? I mean,
is there actually some type of transactional investigation that
we are doing to make sure that they report? And I am curious
about that. Just briefly, if you would, because I have another
important question.
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Absolutely. Each U.N. organization is
required to submit annual reports. Some of them are much better
and more transparent than others. And we are pushing for
greater level of transparency in all of those reports so that
we can track this stuff better.
Ms. Tenney. Is there a system in place so we can verify
those reports so that we know that what they are actually
submitting is actually accurate? Is there like a way that we
can do that?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Each agency has its own Office of
Investigations if we believe there is, you know, malfeasance or
something going on. But, as I said, part of what we are doing
is making sure that the personnel who are providing those
reports have the integrity and the qualifications to make sure
that there are quality reports coming out that we can trust.
Ms. Tenney. Great. Thank you.
And now I just wanted to bring up Ranking Member McCaul has
introduced legislation that would codify the Office of
Multilateral Strategy and Personnel, otherwise known as MSP.
That bill, the United Nations Transparency and Accountability
Act, would establish clear duties for the Office and empower
the head of MSP to coordinate all nominations for election to
the U.N. system. It would also require an increase in JPO slots
of not less than 50 percent, ensuring Americans have the same
access to U.N. employment as other countries.
What is the IO Bureau's position on RM McCall's, Ranking
Member McCall's, proposal? Would this legislation assist you in
your ongoing efforts at State?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Thank you. We have seen the legislation
from Representative McCall, and we look forward to continued
discussions with this committee and with his office on that.
Many elements of the draft legislation are already underway,
including, as you noted, the establishment of the Office of
Multilateral Strategy and Personnel. And we have appreciated
the frequent opportunities to talk with his staff and staff of
this committee about this evolving effort. We think that
anything that supports U.S. involvement in U.N. institutions is
helpful. Thank you.
Ms. Tenney. So do you think that you can get to the 50
percent or any aspect of that in the legislation?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. We would hope to see the funding for
that as we go forward.
Ms. Tenney. OK. Thank you so much. I appreciate it, and I
yield back.
Mr. Castro. Thank you, Representative. All right.
That is all. I thank everybody so far for first-round
questions. We will go through for any quick second-round
questions.
Members, if you have second-round questions, please let us
know. Don't feel like you have to ask a question. But, if you
have got one, we will go through right now for a quick second
round.
All right. I wanted to start with myself. I have got one
more question and wanted to ask you about the election for the
International Labor Organization. In March 2022, the
International Labor Organization will elect its new Director
General after the retirement of Guy Ryder from the United
Kingdom. There are candidates from Australia, Togo, South
Africa, France, and South Korea. And the ILO plays a key role
in setting international labor standards. And the United
States, of course, has strong interests in front of that body.
What are the State Department's priorities at the ILO, and
how does that align with your strategy for these upcoming
elections? And what are you going to do to ensure that the
State Department has a coordinated strategy with other
organizations, especially the Department of Labor, and with
labor unions and other civil society groups to approach this
election?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Thank you. We agree that this is a
critical election, and we have been working already with the
Department of Labor and with others, both in the private sector
as well as in the union movement to make sure that we are
giving everybody an opportunity to interview each of the
candidates. I met just yesterday with the ROK candidate. I have
met with the French and the Australian candidate and look
forward next month to meeting with the Togolese candidate. And
we are working hard to make sure that they get around.
We are also pleased that there is going to be more
transparency in this election and that there is going to be a
panel discussion that will be live and open to everybody on the
internet to see those candidates give their vision for the ILO.
But we will be coordinating the U.S. Government's voting. And
we will be working to make sure that we are working with the
labor unions and the private sector representatives on this
election as it goes forward.
Mr. Castro. Thank you.
I will go now to Ranking Member Malliotakis.
Ms. Malliotakis. As we discussed earlier, the United States
is the largest financial contributor to the United Nations,
paying roughly one-quarter of both the regular and peacekeeping
budgets.
My first question is, do you believe our influence in the
United Nations system reflects our financial contributions? And
second part of that question is, despite some success by the
United States, the U.N. still lacks the appropriate levels of
financial transparency in reporting on outcomes. Major donor
States, including the United States, lack access to reasonably
detailed, viable information on the use of funding made
available through single country trust funds, as well as the
outcomes and results stemming from the United Nations'
activities. How can we as Congress ensure that we are working
to increase this transparency? Do you have any suggestions
there?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Thank you. We agree that the level of
transparency on single country trust funds needs to be much
improved. We are concerned about these trust funds, and we were
concerned that some countries, in particular the People's
Republic of China, have been using them to push their own
agendas and their own single nation foreign policy agendas.
This is particularly true in the case of the Belt and Road
Initiative and the newly launched GDI, the Global Development
Initiative.
We have worked with U.N. agencies to which these trust
funds have been aimed, including the U.N. Development Program
and UNICEF in particular, to push for greater transparency of
how those funds are being used both in their programmatic
documents and in their outcome documents and reporting. We will
continue to do that, and we are committed to making sure that
that is the case.
Ms. Malliotakis. Any suggestions on what Congress can do to
just push for more accountability and transparency when it
comes to moneys that are being put into any of these, any of
these international organizations to measure the metrics but
also to ensure that it is being used properly?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. I have to say, Madam Representative,
that one of the best things that Congress has enabled us to do
is set up this IO/MSP Office because we are very focused on
data analytics as part of this office. And your continuing
support for us to be able to have that Data Analytics Unit
established and grow will allow us to have greater transparency
and is really, really important as we go forward because we
have to have modern data-capturing techniques in order to make
sure that we are tracking this stuff. And we agree with you
that transparency is absolutely critical.
Ms. Malliotakis. And, if these organizations aren't being
transparent, how are you doing these analytics?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. One of the things that we are able to do
because we are the largest contributor in many cases, both
voluntary and assessed funding, to these organizations is to go
in and actually demand that transparency from them, to ask for
reporting, and to make sure that that is coming to us in a
regularized fashion. And we have been doing that.
It is not as consistent as we would like across the board,
and so this is something that that office will also be able to
track is to say, where are we not getting that kind of
reporting so that we can make sure that we are able to track?
Ms. Malliotakis. Have you to date identified any disturbing
misuse of funds?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. I apologize. I didn't hear the question.
Ms. Malliotakis. To date, has this analytics department
been able to identify any particular misuse of fund?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. As we are just setting up the office--we
only hired the first people about 6 weeks ago--we have not yet
been able to do that reporting, but we look forward to being
able to do a better job of tracking that kind of issue.
There have been reports issued by Offices of Inspectors
General across the U.N. system.
Ms. Malliotakis. Sure.
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. And when those reports come out, we do
investigate those.
Ms. Malliotakis. OK. And when do you expect your initial
reports to be disseminated?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. We hope to be able to have this unit
within the Office of IO/MSP up and fully functional within the
next year. We are just getting started, and we have to build
out the data bases for tracking before we are able to do that.
Ms. Malliotakis. What do you think may be some of your
priorities, once it is up and running, where will you be
focusing most of your attention, a particular organization or
just----
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. We will be focusing our attention in
large part in the areas where we are the single largest
contributor as priorities at the first go, but then also in
organizations where we haven't had the level of transparency
that we would like, and then, also, on elections because this
office will also be building out election-tracking devices, and
we think that that is critically important because, if you do
not have the right people in place, you know, you are not going
to get the kind of transparency you want.
Ms. Malliotakis. Thank you.
Mr. Castro. Thank you, ranking member.
We will go now to Vice Chair Jacobs.
Ms. Jacobs. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing us a
second round. We know that international organizations are
incredibly diverse in terms of the topics and regions that they
touch. The U.S. agencies and even parts of the State Department
that deal with them stretch across the entire government.
For instance, according to a recent CSIS report, 23
different parts of the U.S. Government provide funding to
different IOs. And in certain circumstances, those overlap even
within the same IOs, such as both USAID and Treasury, provide
staff to the World Bank and OECD risk-use funding from five
different agencies.
So this, obviously, seems like a huge challenge in
interagency coordination. What kind of interagency-coordinating
mechanism exists to ensure our policies are synchronized with a
whole-of-government strategy? And, if one does not exist, do
you think there should be one?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Thank you very much.
It is a diverse and broad funding base, but also a diverse
and broad policy base. So the Bureau of International
Organization Affairs in the State Department has the lead on
international organizations and multilateral affairs throughout
the entire U.S. Government, and we regularly convene in
conjunction with our colleagues at the NSC, IPCs, interagency
policy committees, to discuss policies but also to discuss
coordination on these efforts.
When it comes to elections and appointments, we have the
lead, and our office--this new office that we have set up is
enabling us to have the resources and the personnel to do that
in a much more rigorous and coordinated fashion across the
government within the State Department and across the
interagency, and we are committed to continuing that effort.
Ms. Jacobs. Well, thank you. And I want to talk about this
Office of Multilateral Strategy. I know we talked about it in
the last question, and you just mentioned it.
Moving forward, how will IO and the new office coordinate
with regional and functional bureaus that handle specific IOs
that fall within those regional or functional bureaus'
jurisdictions? Will each Bureau have a person responsible for
coordinating with IO on strategy?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. So I will take one example. Our
Economics Bureau works very closely with the OSCE, and there is
a person who is designated in that office with whom we
coordinate on OSCE policy, but also on personnel. So we have a
very tight coordination effort already in that instance.
In other areas, it has been less tight, and we are working
to tighten that up.
Ms. Jacobs. OK. Well, I will look forward to seeing
progress on that tightening.
I want to also ask a little bit about down-ballot races. I
know we have talked about some of the marquis races coming up,
like ITU, ILO, but where are there down-ballot races, and what
are you doing to prepare for those? I know, for instance, ITU
has several down-ballot races in addition to the Secretary
General one. And what are you doing, and what more can be done,
and do you have the authorities and resources you need to be
able to do that?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Yes. It is very important, because not
only the leadership of these organizations but the No. 2,
three, fours, and the folks who are in charge of Administration
are very, very important. So one of the things that we have
done is set up a tracking table, which we are then going to put
into our data bases as we go forward, to look not only at the
leadership-level races, but down into the deputy--deputy
director general level and then the assistant deputy director
general level, so that we are looking across these
organizations.
Right now, we are still building that out, but we are
hopeful that we will be able to track that trend over time.
That will give us greater granularity so that we cannot only
track these elections but then work ahead of time to put good
candidates in place, whether Americans or from like-minded
countries and partners.
Ms. Jacobs. Wonderful. Well, thank you again so much.
Mr. Chair, I will give you 1 minute and 15 seconds back.
Mr. Castro. Thanks.
We will go to Mr. Issa.
Mr. Issa. I will take the minute.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
When we left off on the first round, I had asked about
tools available or that you felt you could use going forward to
protect Taiwan from this ongoing--Taiwan and the other
neighbors from this ongoing aggression. Do you believe that the
United Nations has a role? And, if so, how would you begin the
process of getting them to provide some pushback to China's
continued aggression?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. I think the U.N. has a role in any case
where there is peace and security at stake, and I think that it
is important for the U.N. to speak out, and we have urged them
to speak out, for instance, where there are examples of gross
human rights abuses perpetrated by the People's Republic of
China, whether that is in Tibet, whether that is in Hong Kong,
or whether that is in Xinjiang.
We have also urged the U.N. to include Taiwan, where
appropriate, in--bring its expertise and its experience to
bear, so on things like supply chains, on things like
international civil aviation safety, on disease prevention.
They did a great job, especially at the beginning of the COVID
pandemic, not only in identifying the DNA sequencing but also
developing their own vaccine and monitoring and keeping their
population safe.
So we need to continue to push the U.N. to include them,
include their expertise, but also to address where the People's
Republic of China is not taking into account international
safety and security in its own policies.
Mr. Issa. OK. And then the last part, there has been a lot
of discussion, always will be, about how the U.N. gets--
interfaces with such programs, as you said, of the Chinese
initiative, Belt and Road. We have a number of agencies--the
Trade Development Agency, obviously USAID--that give
essentially free grants outside the U.N. to help in development
while China basically does its development as a profit center,
as a tool of expanding their influence, and then leverages the
United Nations' funding and personnel for that agenda.
How are you specifically going to be able to stop China
from essentially both profiteering in their port takeovers and
so on, but most specifically from using U.N. resources to
further leverage their already robust program under Belt and
Road?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Yes. This is an area where we have
longstanding and I think strong bipartisan agreement that we
need to do everything we can to push back on the Chinese effort
to undermine international institutions, international norms
through using these kind of programs like the Belt and Road----
Mr. Issa. Ambassador, I just want to interrupt to----
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Yes, please.
Mr. Issa [continuing]. Steer the question a little bit. The
last Administration, for 4 years, failed in that effort, so I
agree that it has been multiparty; it has been multi-
Presidential. I was actually looking at what new initiatives
could be taken since, you know, in the last Administration,
there was talk about it, certainly a lot of robust talk about
it, but the record of accomplishment--as a Republican and a
Trump supporter--the record of accomplishment isn't there.
So what can we do that didn't work last time because
obviously this is still an ongoing problem?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Part of what we are working on is
combining with our--the DFC, the Development Finance
Corporation, and other U.S. Government institutions to put
forward a proactive and positive agenda that pushes forward
American values because it is hard to fight something with
nothing.
We think it is important that we show up, that we compete,
and that we work with developing countries to make sure that
they have sound investments that benefit them and that benefit
us, not that just benefit China, and we will continue to do
that.
Mr. Issa. Thank you.
And, Mr. Chairman, I will yield back my 15 seconds. Thank
you.
Mr. Castro. Thank you, Mr. Issa.
We will go now to Representative Tenney.
Ms. Tenney. Thank you, and thank you for staying longer.
And this is actually similar to the question that Mr. Issa had.
And obviously we know that China engages in attempts to rewrite
the international order to drive their agenda in various ways
that--even cited by Mr. Issa. You know, one of my concerns is
that China steals anywhere from $350 billion to $400 billion in
intellectual property.
And, in order to facilitate that, they try to change the
rules at the World Intellectual Property Organization, they try
to exclude Taiwan from the World Health Organization, and even
the International Civil Aviation Organization, which is
interesting obviously for Taiwan, being a country that is
surrounded by water.
But, more to Mr. Issa's point--and I agree with him. You
know, we haven't really been effective at countering China.
What can we do now, now that we know it is in place--and I
think the Administration is sort of projecting to China that
you are just a competitor. Isn't it--shouldn't we be taking
China more seriously than just a competitor, they are really a
world hegemony who wants to take over with their hundred-year
strategy, their Belt and Road Initiative, and, as Mr. Issa
cited, you know, profiting off of the use of our money, almost
leveraging our money that we give so much to the U.N.?
How do we counter that, and how do we hold them
accountable, and what--like, real quickly, what strategies does
the Administration have and viewing them as not just a
competitor but a world dominator that is really going to have
negative implications for the world, not just the United States
going forward?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. We take very seriously not just the
competition piece but also the potential for very aggressive
competition that could lead into very bad situations in the
future. So we are working very hard, one, to make sure that
security--our security is strong; two, that our allies and
their security is strong.
But, also, really working at how do we keep the PRC's
efforts, which I equate to kind of the tide over time. It is
not a big tidal wave. It is the gradual undermining of the
foundations upon which these institutions are built, which have
served our interests and served global peace and security
interests over the last 70, 80 years, that we need to preserve
and we need to fight for.
So that means we need to be present. It means that we need
to be looking at what they are doing on language, but also
really scrutinizing and shining a light on what they are doing
on funding. So we agree with you.
Ms. Tenney. Uh-huh.
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Light is something that they do not want
on what they are doing, and we need to be very public about
shining a light on what they are doing and why they are doing
it so that other countries understand why it is not in their
interests to go down this road.
Ms. Tenney. Great. Thank you for that, and I appreciate it.
And, other than just--obviously shining a light, transparency,
all those things are important. What type of rule changes can
we make to really emphasize and project that we aren't fooling
around, you know, we are serious, we want to make sure they
understand that we are not going to accept their dominance and
their attempt to dominate other countries?
So what can we do in terms of rule changes within your
organization to really put, you know, some pressure on them
strategically and also to make sure that not just the United
States but other countries around the world aren't leveraged
and in such a vulnerable position, because they have great
economic strength? They use, you know, basically a kind of
economic espionage the way that they go through to these
countries and manipulate them.
What can we do to specifically in terms of rule changes at
your level to make this not just shining a light, not just
transparent, but really, you know, digging in and having some
real guardrails for them?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. Guardrails is the right word. We need to
make sure that the rules of the road in international
organizations that have sustained global peace for generations
are maintained and sustained. That is first and foremost.
Second, the transparency issues that you have already--we
have already discussed.
And, third, we need to make sure that we are present, we
are leading, and that we are working very strongly with not
only our traditional allies but with countries which have been,
unfortunately, vulnerable to exploitation, because they are not
in the strongest positions.
Ms. Tenney. And I agree. When you say ``present,'' do you
mean, you know, just basically making sure that we are in
regions where we have a stake or where other countries have a
stake or where China is over--exceeding its norms, exceeding
our view of international norms--for example, moving into
Afghanistan or Serbia and other areas to try to, you know, take
over resources there?
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. It is being present not only regionally
but also in international institutions.
Ms. Tenney. OK.
Ms. Barks-Ruggles. For example, in UNESCO, where the ethics
of artificial intelligence norms are being set up right now, we
are not present. If we were present, we would have a voice at
that table.
We need to be present across the board to make sure that we
are influencing those efforts, not only for now but for the
future.
Ms. Tenney. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks for the
extra time.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
Mr. Castro. Thank you, Representative Tenney.
And that concludes our testimony and our questions, and I
want to make closing remarks in just a second.
But, before I do, I just want to give a shout-out to one of
our staff members, Zach Keck, who is going to be leaving us to
go to the Department of Defense. He has done incredible work
with us for a few years.
I just want to say thank you, Zach, for all of your work.
And I would like to thank everyone again for joining us for
this subcommittee hearing. And one of the reasons that we have
to remain engaged, Ambassador--as you know, consistent with
your testimony, one of the reasons we have to remain engaged in
international organizations is to set global standards around a
host of issues, including human rights.
We were reminded of this in recent weeks after Chinese
tennis star Peng Shuai went missing after accusing a close ally
of Xi Jinping of sexually assaulting her. After weeks of outcry
about her whereabouts, the PRC media released an email to WTA
chairman and CEO, Steve Simon, claiming to be from Peng, which
many suspect is of dubious authenticity.
We are best able to combat human rights abuses, including
by the PRC, by engaging in international organizations and
setting global standards around issues like human rights and
many other issues as well. And that is why this work matters.
The members of the subcommittee, no doubt, will reflect on
all the testimony we heard today as we pursue our legislative
and oversight responsibilities on the United States' engagement
with the United Nations and other international organizations,
and I am happy to see that there is strong bipartisan support
for the State Department's work to advance our influence within
the United Nations.
There is a lot Congress can do, including providing the
Department with the authorities and funding needed to do this
great work. But, by far, the most immediate thing that Congress
and, more specifically, the U.S. Senate can do is to quickly
confirm Ambassador Michele Sison to be the Assistant Secretary
of State for International Organization Affairs.
It has been 5 months since her hearing at the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, but the actions of Senator Ted
Cruz, from my home State of Texas, and Senator Josh Hawley have
held up her confirmation.
This unreasonable blockade has also held up a number of
other nominees who have cleared the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, including Captain ``Sully'' Sullenberger to the
International Civil Aviation Organization, Bruce Turner to the
Conference on Disarmament, Jack Markell to the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development, Laura Holgate to the
Vienna office of the United Nations and the IAEA, Sheba Crocker
to the Geneva office of the United Nations, Lisa Carty to the
U.N.'s Economic and Social Council, Chris Lu to the U.N.--
United Nations for management--management and reform, and
Julianne Smith to NATO.
I know my counterparts in the Senate, Democrats and
Republicans both, share my frustration at the actions of their
colleagues. Senators Cruz' and Hawley's continued actions have
left a vacuum in U.S. influence abroad and are hurting our
foreign policy. I hope they realize the serious consequences of
their actions and allow for these nominees to be voted on as
soon as possible.
Thank you all.
And, with that, this hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:16 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
APPENDIX
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RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
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