REFORMING THE UNITED NATIONS: BUDGET AND MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVES BRIEFING AND HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MAY 19, 2005 Serial No. 109–94 Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/international—relations U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 21–309PDF WASHINGTON : 2005 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Mar 21 2002 11:28 Jan 06, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 F:\WORK\FULL\051905\21309.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa TOM LANTOS, California CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, HOWARD L. BERMAN, California Vice Chairman GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York DAN BURTON, Indiana ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American ELTON GALLEGLY, California Samoa ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey DANA ROHRABACHER, California ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey EDWARD R. ROYCE, California SHERROD BROWN, Ohio PETER T. KING, New York BRAD SHERMAN, California STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ROBERT WEXLER, Florida THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York RON PAUL, Texas WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts DARRELL ISSA, California GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York JEFF FLAKE, Arizona BARBARA LEE, California JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York MARK GREEN, Wisconsin EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon JERRY WELLER, Illinois SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada MIKE PENCE, Indiana GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California THADDEUS G. MCCOTTER, Michigan ADAM B. SCHIFF, California KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida DIANE E. WATSON, California JOE WILSON, South Carolina ADAM SMITH, Washington JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas BETTY MCCOLLUM, Minnesota J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky CONNIE MACK, Florida DENNIS A. CARDOZA, California JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska MICHAEL MCCAUL, Texas TED POE, Texas THOMAS E. MOONEY, SR., Staff Director/General Counsel ROBERT R. KING, Democratic Staff Director RENEE AUSTELL, Professional Staff Member JEAN CARROLL, Full Committee Hearing Coordinator (II) VerDate Mar 21 2002 11:28 Jan 06, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\FULL\051905\21309.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL C O N T E N T S Page BRIEFER Mr. Mark Malloch Brown, Chief of Staff to the Secretary-General, United Nations .................................................................................................................. 7 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE BRIEFING Mr. Mark Malloch Brown: Prepared statement .................................................... 9 HEARING WITNESSES Mark P. Lagon, Ph.D., Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, U.S. Department of State ............................................... 106 Ms. Catherine Bertini, former Under Secretary-General for Management, United Nations, 2003–2005 ................................................................................. 152 The Honorable Timothy E. Wirth, President, UN Foundation ............................ 158 Natan Sharansky, Author, ‘‘The Case for Democracy’’ ......................................... 174 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING Mark P. Lagon, Ph.D.: Prepared statement .......................................................... 109 Ms. Catherine Bertini: Prepared statement .......................................................... 154 The Honorable Timothy E. Wirth: Prepared statement ....................................... 160 (III) VerDate Mar 21 2002 11:28 Jan 06, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\FULL\051905\21309.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL VerDate Mar 21 2002 11:28 Jan 06, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\FULL\051905\21309.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL REFORMING THE UNITED NATIONS: BUDGET AND MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVES THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2005 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:36 a.m. in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Henry J. Hyde (Chair- man of the Committee) presiding. Chairman HYDE. The Committee will come to order. The subject of today’s briefing and hearing is reform of the United Nations. Many regard the word ‘‘reform’’ used in relation to the UN with suspicion, viewing it as a vehicle by which the United States can surreptitiously inflict intentional damage on an institution unpopu- lar with the American people. But those who would claim an Amer- ican antipathy to the United Nations are unfamiliar with the his- tory of the organization. The United States was the originator of the idea of the United Nations and its birth parent, as it had been decades before with the League of Nations. When the U.S. set out to remake the inter- national system at the end of World War II, it focused much of its energy and overwhelming strength on establishing the United Na- tions, spending time and resources to persuade allies, enemies, and others to sign on to this new and hopeful vision of how the world could work. And through the decades, despite disagreements large and small, we have been the organization’s principal funder and its steady partner. Our criticism has stemmed not from a reflexive op- position but from repeated disappointment at the UN’s inability or refusal to live up to our high expectations. No one is opposed to the UN’s role in facilitating diplomacy, me- diating disputes, monitoring the peace, feeding the hungry. But we are opposed to legendary bureaucratization, to political grandstand- ing, to billions of dollars spent on multitudes of programs with meager results, and to the outright misappropriation of funds rep- resented by the emerging scandal regarding the Oil-for-Food Pro- gram. And we rightly bristle at the gratuitous anti-Americanism that has become ingrained over decades. No observer, be they passionate supporter or dismissive critic, can pretend that the current structure and operations of the UN represent an acceptable standard. Even the United Nations itself has acknowledged the need for reform and, to its credit, has put forward a number of useful proposals for consideration. But it can- not be expected to shoulder this burden alone and none who care about the UN would want it to. (1) VerDate Mar 21 2002 11:28 Jan 06, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\051905\21309.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL 2 The desire for change is a bipartisan one. Republican and Demo- cratic Administrations alike have long called for a more focused and accountable budget, one that reflects what should be the true priorities of the organization, shorn of duplicative, ineffective, and outdated programs. Members on both sides of the aisle in Congress agree that the time has come for far-reaching reforms. Our efforts must address a wide range of activities, including budget priorities and the sprawling array of programs, personnel issues, and management reform, to name but the largest subjects. I could recite a litany of examples of problems that must be ad- dressed, but I will offer only one, namely that, while the United Nations Public Information Office employs 754 individuals, the Of- fice of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has 450. The task we face is an extensive one and I have no illusions re- garding the difficulties and challenges we face. This Committee will soon take up legislation that will outline U.S. goals and the actions needed to accomplish them, legislation that I am confident will enjoy wide, bipartisan support. I am certain that we shall receive it from all who wish the United Nations to become the institution it was intended to be and to fulfill the mission envisioned by its founders. I now yield to my friend, the Ranking Democratic Member of this Committee, Mr. Tom Lantos. Mr. LANTOS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I want to commend you for calling this important hearing and I want to com- mend you on your very thoughtful introductory observations. Mr. Chairman, the way the United Nations works or fails to work has been subject to an unprecedented level of scrutiny in the past year after the revelations of widespread corruption involving the flawed Oil-for-Food Program in Iraq. This intense scrutiny has yielded a steady stream of sickening tales of sex abuse, kickbacks, bribery, embezzlement, influence peddling, document shredding and almost every other form of malfeasance imaginable. The flood of stories of scandal has forced long overdue recognition of an essential fact about the United Nations. It is a derivative re- ality reflecting its less than perfect member states in a deeply flawed world. It is not an independent reality, but it reflects the singularly imperfect world with all its shortcomings, injustices, ab- surdities, corruptions, cruelties, hypocrisies, and tragedies. While I strongly endorse a joint effort to roll up our sleeves and develop structural and procedural changes in UN management, I urge all of my colleagues to keep in mind that there is no quick fix for an organization composed of 191 member states that in varying degrees have their own shortcomings, injustices, flaws, and hypocrisies of all times. Mr. Chairman, until the day arrives when the clear majority of United Nations member states assume their international respon- sibilities