The U.N.: Still the Best Peacekeeping Tool

By Lena Garrettson on 10/14/2011 @ 12:45 PM

Tags: Peaceful Prevention

Last week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the “United Nations Transparency, Accountability and Reform Act” (H.R.2829). As Mary reported , the legislation would cut U.S. dues that are assessed annually by the U.N. unless the international body agrees to divide most of its budget on a voluntary basis. Since the U.N. is extremely unlikely to agree to these demands, the bill would essentially result in an automatic cut in U.N. dues. (More on the bill) Although not even a dozen representatives were present for the bill’s markup, the discussion and arguments were heated and split along party lines.

Rep. Burton complained that “the U.N. never votes with us” (Burton), while Rep. Rohrabacher stated that U.S. financial dues to the U,N. support “people who hate us” (Rohrabacher). On the other side of the aisle, Rep. Ackermann defended the U.N. and emphasized that the U.N. is not a U.S. tax-exempt charitable organization, nor is it an extension of the U.S. government. The United Nations isn’t supposed to be “our pal”, Rep. Ackerman maintained, rather it is “an important place, where representatives come together to make the world a better place.” The woman next to me in the audience even cheered out loud when Ackermann argued that “making the contributions to the U.N. voluntary, makes about as much sense as making U.S. income taxes voluntary.”

The debate’s intensity was exciting, and I was pleasantly surprised when I heard Rep. Payne reflect FCNL’s perspective when he said that the “U.N. is the best peacekeeping tool we have.” Despite the intense debate, agreement emerged that the U.N. has “flaws and shortcomings” (Rep. Berman). “Nonetheless”, Rep. Foretnberry argued, “the U.N. is the strongest multilateral tool there is”

As the debate was coming to an end, more members of the committee took their seats. The clerk counted the votes and the bill passed 23:15 with no Democratic support and Rep. Fortenberry absent. On Friday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee website announced that the committee passed “Landmark Legislation to Reform United Nations.” While this bill is indeed a landmark, passage of it would be devastating to the U.N. and the world. This legislation undermines an international forum dedicated to building worldwide peace and security and “sets the clock back to U.S. disengagement times” (Rep. Carnahan).