[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[House]
[Pages 22243-22244]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    REFORM NEEDED AT UNITED NATIONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, Ambassador Susan Rice, our Permanent 
Representative to the United Nations, has emphasized that the U.S. is 
``taking a new approach'' to the U.N. as part of its broader ``new era 
of engagement.'' Instead of protecting the investment of our tax 
dollars, instead of conditioning our contributions on real reform, the 
U.S. has adopted a strategy of ``money now, maybe reform later.''
  At the U.N. General Assembly as it begins its new session this week, 
there is perhaps no better time to evaluate the effectiveness thus far 
of this so-called ``new approach.''
  Well, let's see what has resulted. In March, the U.S. sent an 
observer to participate in the U.N.'s so-called Human Rights Council, 
which is dominated by dictatorships like China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia, 
and is notoriously anti-Israel.
  Despite U.S. engagement, the Council stayed true to form. What did 
they do? Overwhelmingly passed five separate resolutions condemning 
Israel, passing no resolutions condemning human rights violations by 
the regimes in Iran and Syria, Sudan, Cuba, Zimbabwe or many other 
dictatorships.
  True to form, the Council-appointed panel recently released a report 
accusing Israel of ``war crimes'' and ``possibly, crimes against 
humanity'' for defending its citizens against rocket and mortar fire 
from Islamic militants in Gaza.
  When it comes to the Council's biases and backwardness, there is no 
end in sight. There is no change in sight. Yet, the U.S. silently nods 
and sends millions of our taxpayer dollars, with no questions asked.
  There is also UNRWA, the United Nations Relief Works Agency, the 
U.N.'s discredited, biased agency for Palestinian refugees. This year 
alone, we have given UNRWA a record of $260 million. In return, UNRWA 
continues to compromise its strictly humanitarian mandate by engaging 
in propaganda against Israel and in favor of Hamas. In fact, UNRWA's 
head says she doesn't even consider Hamas to be a Foreign Terrorist 
Organization, and her predecessor even admitted that members of Hamas 
were on the payroll of UNRWA, saying ``I don't see that as a crime.''
  Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew testified before our Foreign 
Affairs Committee in May, and he said UNRWA's activities received ``the 
highest level of scrutiny'' by the State Department. But we don't even 
require UNRWA to vet its employees and aid recipients through the U.S. 
watch lists.
  Turning to the U.N. General Assembly, Madam Speaker, it remains 
silent in the face of intense repression and violent attacks by the 
Iranian regime against peaceful demonstrators. Yet, in late June, it 
moved swiftly to condemn and isolate the constitutional democratic 
government of Honduras for acting in accordance with and in protection 
of the rule of law.
  As for the leadership of the new session of the General Assembly, 
it's a ``who's who'' of the world's worst regimes. The President? The 
former foreign minister of Libya. One of the vice-presidents? From 
Sudan. A vice chair of the legal committee? Iran. But the U.S. has said 
nothing as such rogue regimes were selected for leadership positions at 
the U.N.
  Administration officials have said, ``The U.N. is essential to our 
efforts to

[[Page 22244]]

galvanize concerted actions that make Americans safer and more 
secure.'' Libya, Sudan, Iran? Are you feeling secure now?
  One of the greatest threats to the security of our Nation and an 
existential threat to our ally Israel comes from the Iranian regime and 
its nuclear program. This week, for the first time, a President of the 
United States will chair a meeting of the U.N. Security Council and 
will have a golden opportunity to raise the threat of Iran on the world 
stage. The Council will even be holding a special summit on the general 
issue of nuclear nonproliferation.
  Yet the actions of specific countries such as Iran will be ignored. 
The U.S. will not use its presidency of the Council this month to push 
for increased sanctions on Iran or any other regime that pursues 
nuclear capabilities or sponsors violent extremist groups.
  The International Atomic Energy Agency continues to provide nuclear 
technical assistance to Iran and Syria, and the U.S. remains silent.
  The U.N. Development Program is accused of misusing funds in 
Zimbabwe, in Afghanistan and in North Korea, to name a few, and the 
U.S. continues to provide them with hundreds of millions of dollars 
every year in funding. No strings attached.
  Madam Speaker, enough is enough. Let's put U.S. taxpayer dollars to 
work for the American people, and not for the U.N., where the inmates 
run the asylum.

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