[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 142 (Wednesday, September 13, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1767]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



               E X T E N S I O N S   O F   R E M A R K S


[[Page E 1767]]


                 AMERICA'S STAKE IN THE UNITED NATIONS

                                 ______


                          HON. LEE H. HAMILTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 13, 1995
  Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, many of us have been critical of the 
management and efficiency of the United Nations. Despite these 
shortcomings, on the 50th anniversary of the U.N. Charter it is 
important to remember the critical role this institution plays.
  I therefore commend to my colleagues a recent policy statement by the 
U.N. Association of the United States of America, ``America's Stake in 
the United Nations and Financing the United Nations.'' As this 
statement notes, every U.S. administration has turned to the United 
Nations for collective action to help maintain or restore peace. The 
United Nations helps to spread the financial, political, and military 
burden of interventions. I agree with the policy statement that 
``Increased reliance on U.N. collective security operations necessarily 
complements our defense savings.''
  The United States cannot insulate itself from an interconnected world 
where transnational threats such as drugs, terrorism, and diseases 
respect no borders. The United Nations is an imperfect but vital tool 
which can help respond to those threats. I fully agree with UNA/USA's 
statement that the U.N. requires reform, but not wrecking. I intend to 
continue pressing for such reform in the United Nations.
  While I do not support providing any kind of tax authority to the 
United Nations, it seems to me that we cannot hope for a more efficient 
and effective United Nations so long as its finances remain unreliable. 
The answer, as the report states, is simple: Nations must pay their 
assessed contributions on time, and in full. We should not support U.N. 
budgets for which we do not intend to pay.
  I congratulate UNA/USA on this thoughtful policy statement, and 
request that it be included in the Record.
                 America's Stake in the United Nations

       Fifty years ago we, the people of the United States, joined 
     in common purpose and shared commitment with the people of 50 
     other nations. The most catastrophic war in history had 
     convinced nations that no country could any longer be safe 
     and secure in isolation. From this realization was born the 
     United Nations--the idea of a genuine world community and a 
     framework for solving human problems that transcend national 
     boundaries. Since then, technology and economics have 
     transformed ``world community'' from a phrase to a fact, and 
     if the World War II generation had not already established 
     the U.N. system, today's would have to create it.
       The founders of the United Nations were clairvoyant in many 
     ways. The Charter anticipated decolonization; called for 
     ``respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all 
     without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion''; 
     and set up the institutional framework ``for the promotion of 
     the economic and social advancement of all peoples.'' In 
     meeting the Charter's challenges, we make for a more secure 
     and prosperous world.
       Through the U.N. system, many serious conflicts have been 
     contained or concluded. Diseases have been controlled or 
     eradicated, children immunized, refugees protected and fed. 
     Nations have set standards on issues of common concern--
     ranging from human rights to environmental survival to radio 
     frequencies. Collective action has also furthered particular 
     U.S. government interests, such as averting a widening war in 
     the Middle East into which Washington might otherwise be 
     drawn. After half a century, the U.N. remains a unique 
     investment yielding multiple dividends for Americans and 
     others alike.
       The U.N.'s mandate to preserve peace and security was long 
     hobbled by the Cold War, whose end has allowed the 
     institutions of global security to spring to life. The five 
     permanent members of the Security Council now meet and 
     function as a cohesive group, and what the Council has lost 
     in rhetorical drama it has more than gained in forging common 
     policies. Starting with the Reagan Administration's effort to 
     marshal the Security Council to help bring an end to the 
     Iran-Iraq war in 1988, every U.S. administration has turned 
     to the U.N. for collective action to help maintain or restore 
     peace. Common policy may not always result in success, but 
     neither does unilateral policy--and, unlike unilateral 
     intervention, it spreads costs and risks widely and may help 
     avoid policy disasters.
       Paradoxically, the end of the Cold War has also given rise 
     in the U.S. to a resurgent isolationism, along with calls for 
     unilateral, go-it-alone policies. Developments in many places 
     that once would have stirred alarm are now viewed with 
     indifference. When they do excite American political 
     interest, the impulse is often to respond unilaterally in the 
     conviction that only Washington can do the job and do it 
     right. Without a Soviet threat, some Americans imagine we can 
     renounce ``foreign entanglements.'' Growing hostility to U.N. 
     peacekeeping in some political circles reflects, in large 
     measure, the shortsighted idea that America has little at 
     stake in the maintenance of a peaceful world. In some 
     quarters, resentment smolders at any hint of reciprocal 
     obligations; but in a country founded on the rule of law, the 
     notion that law should rule among nations ought not to be 
     controversial.
       The political impulse to go it alone surges at precisely 
     the moment when nations have become deeply interconnected. 
     The need for international teamwork has never been clearer. 
     Goods, capital, news, entertainment, and ideas flow national 
     boarders with astonishing speed. So do refugees, diseases, 
     drugs, environmental degradation, terrorists, and currency 
     crashes.
       The institutions of the U.N. system are not perfect, but 
     they remain our best tools for concerted international 
     action. Just as Americans often seek to reform our own 
     government, we must press for improvement of the U.N. system. 
     Fragmented and of limited power prone to political paralysis, 
     bureaucratic torpor, and opaque accountability, the U.N. 
     system requires reform--but not wrecking. Governments and 
     citizens must press for changes that improve agencies' 
     efficiency, enhance their responsiveness, and make them 
     accountable to the world's publics they were created to 
     serve. Our world institutions can only be strengthened with 
     the informed engagement of national leaders, press, and the 
     public at large.
       The American people have not lost their commitment to the 
     United Nations and to the rule of law. They reaffirm it 
     consistently, whether in opinion surveys or UNICEF campaigns. 
     Recognizing the public's sentiment, the foes of America's 
     U.N. commitment--unilateralists, isolationists, or whatever--
     do not call openly for rejecting the U.N. as they had earlier 
     rejected outright the League of Nations. But the systematic 
     paring back of our commitment to international law and 
     participation in institutions would have the same effect.
       In this 50th anniversary year, America's leaders should 
     rededicate the nation to the promise of a more peaceful and 
     prosperous world contained in the U.N. Charter. In that 
     spirit, the United Nations Association of the United States 
     calls on the people and government of the United States, 
     calls on the people and government of the United States, and 
     those of all other U.N. member states, to join in 
     strengthening the United Nations system for the 21st century.
       In particular, we call for action in five areas, which will 
     be the top policy priorities of UNA-USA as we enter the 
     U.N.'s second half-century:
       Reliable financing of the United Nations system.
       Strong and effective U.N. machinery to help keep the peace.
       Promotion of broad-based and sustainable world economic 
     growth.
       Vigorous defense of human rights and protection of 
     displaced populations.
       Control, reduction, or elimination of highly destructive 
     weaponry.
     

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