Report Card from America by Newt Gingrich and George Mitchell

Report Card from America
by Newt Gingrich and George Mitchell

From the International Herald Tribune, November 25, 2005

We were co-chairmen of a bipartisan task force that was authorized by the U.S. Congress late last year to study ways to make the United Nations more effective. The group spanned a very wide range of political and ideological perspectives, and we couldn't agree on everything. But when we issued a consensus report in June, what was most striking was the extent to which we were able to find common ground, including our most important finding, which was "the firm belief that an effective United Nations is in America's interests."

Like many other Americans, however, we were dismayed with the results of the UN General Assembly's recent summit meeting on reform held in New York. The summit's "outcome document" fell significantly short of the recommendations made by our task force. After the UN summit, we asked the experts who served in our group to reconvene to take stock of the summit's results. In doing so, we recognized the difficulty of getting consensus among 191 diverse countries, with different needs and perspectives.

Among the findings and our further recommendations:

Human rights and genocide prevention. Our task force called on the U.S. government and the UN to "affirm that every sovereign government has a 'responsibility to protect' its citizens and those within its jurisdiction from genocide, mass killing, and massive and sustained human rights violations." World leaders endorsed this general principle, which is a very significant step in light of past international resistance to any provision that would seem to endorse interference in a state's "sovereign internal affairs."

It is critical that this principle be understood broadly to encompass mass killings and massive and sustained human rights violations, whether or not they meet technical legal standards for genocide. The outcome document's conclusion is also consistent with the task force's view that in certain circumstances, a government's abnegation of its responsibilities to protect its own people is so severe that the failure of the Security Council to act must not be used as an excuse for the world to stand by as atrocities continue.

Darfur. Our task force addressed Darfur directly, recommending a series of immediate initiatives for the United States, the UN and others, including establishment of a no-flight zone. Although the outcome document did not address this issue, it is clear that international action is still urgently needed. African Union troops in Darfur are unable to protect themselves, let alone those they were sent to protect.

Human rights. Prompt action must be taken to abolish the discredited Human Rights Commission, replacing it with a new Human Rights Council, consisting of member nations committed to decency in the treatment of their own people. The president of the General Assembly should be prepared to put the matter of the composition of such a council to a majority vote in that body. If the UN is not successful in establishing a credible replacement, the United States and the other democracies should consider whether to participate in the scheduled March 2006 meeting of the Human Rights Commission.

Management reform. The task force made a range of recommendations on management reform, including the addition of a very senior official in charge of daily operations and filling the role of chief operating officer. Our experts have pointed to headway by the secretary general on many management reforms within his authority. Unfortunately, there was scant progress on this and other related issues which require agreement by the General Assembly.

Catastrophic terrorism. The task force identified the threat of terrorist groups and potentially hostile regimes both seeking nuclear, biological and chemical weapons as the No. 1 security challenge facing the United States today. Due to sharp disagreement over the relative priority to be given to nonproliferation as compared with disarmament, the summit outcome document failed even to include a section on reducing the threat from weapons of mass destruction - a result Kofi Annan called a "disgrace."

As others have said, UN reform is a process, not an event. Yet, it is reasonable to be concerned about the lack of progress at the September summit, which as the largest gathering of world leaders ever, provided a signal opportunity. It will continue to take concerted leadership by the United States, working with the world's other democracies, to help the United Nations meet the enduring goals of its Charter.

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