U.S. Envoy Says United Nations Has Taken First Step in Reform
Summit agreement was an ambitious effort, John Bolton says
By Merle D. Kellerhals Jr.
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The recent 2005 U.N. World Summit agreement was an important first step in what will be a long process of
reform of the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador John R. Bolton says.
"Broadly speaking, we got much of what we wanted in the document," Bolton told the House International Relations
Committee September 28, but "more importantly, succeeded in keeping out elements that directly conflicted with key U.S.
policies and jeopardized our long-term interests."
At the conclusion of the three-day world summit on September 16, representatives of 191 U.N. member countries approved
an "outcome document" that set out a series of issues to be resolved by the General Assembly over the course of its 60th
session, which began after the summit concluded. However, it was a consensus document that represented months of often
contentious negotiations, and lacked many of the specific reform measures proposed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
and the United States.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in her first speech before the U.N. General Assembly September 17, called on
members to try harder. "The time to reform the United Nations is now. And we must seize this opportunity together," she
said.
The House International Relations Committee, with oversight responsibility for the United Nations, conducted its third
hearing on U.N. reform to determine what was accomplished by the United States during the world summit and the opening
of the 60th session. The committee was also considering enactment of the Henry J. Hyde United Nations Reform Act of
2005.
Congressman Hyde, chairman of the International Relations Committee, said the agreement's "lack of detail and definitive
statements on critical areas such as oversight, accountability, management and budgeting do not inspire confidence."
The Hyde Act would establish a timetable for 46 specific reforms of U.N. management and accountability and mandate
withholding of U.S. annual dues payments as leverage for change. The House of Representatives passed the bill in June,
but no companion bill has been introduced in the Senate.
The Bush administration has not supported using withholding of dues as leverage to achieve sought-after reforms.
When asked by Representative Tom Lantos, the senior Democrat on the committee, whether he preferred discretionary
withholding of dues as leverage rather than mandatory withholding, Bolton replied that he preferred allowing the
secretary of state to use discretionary withholding if necessary. Lantos favors discretionary withholding of dues.
Bolton said the summit agreement represented an ambitious effort on the part of the General Assembly to discuss a wide
range of issues, which includes terrorism, human rights, peace-building, management reforms, the spread of democracy and
alleviating poverty, hunger and disease.
"It was not the alpha and the omega, but we never thought it would be the alpha and the omega,'' Bolton said of the
summit agreement.