United States Department of State United States Participation in the United Nations A Report by the President 1 QQQ to Congress for the year LssO DEPARTMENT OF STATE PUBLICATION 10623 Bureau of International Organization Affairs Released August 1999 Cover photos by: United Nations For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop: SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-9328 ISBN 0-1 6-0501 3 1 -8 United States Participation in the United Nations Report by the President to the Congress for the year 1998 CONTENTS Introduction Political and Security Affairs 1 UN Reform 1 Economic and Social Affairs 2 Development and Humanitarian Relief Activities 3 Administration and Budget 3 Specialized Agencies 4 1. Political and Security Affairs Regional Issues 7 Middle East 7 Situation in the Middle East 7 UN Interim Force in Lebanon 7 UN Disengagement Observer Force 7 UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees 8 Iraq 8 Africa 9 Working Group on Reduction of Conflict 9 Angola 12 Burundi 13 Central African Republic 13 Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) 15 Ethiopia/Eritrea 17 Libya 18 Rwanda 19 Sierra Leone 21 Somalia 22 Western Sahara 22 Western Hemisphere 23 Cuba 23 Guatemala 24 Haiti 24 Other Areas 25 Afghanistan 25 Bougainville 26 Cambodia 26 Cyprus 27 Georgia 28 India/Pakistan 29 Tajikistan 30 The Former Yugoslavia 30 Special Political Issues 34 International Peace and Security 34 Disarmament Issues 36 Disarmament Commission 36 Conference on Disarmament 37 First Committee 38 Other Issues 39 Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space 39 Non-Self-Governing Territories 39 Year 2000 Computer Problem (Y2K) 40 i United States Participation in the United Nations - 1998 2. Reform of the United Nations Reform of the United Nations 43 Secretary General's Reform Initiatives 43 Reforms in International Organizations: UN Headquarters 44 Peacekeeping Reform 45 Security Council Reform 46 3. Economic and Social Affairs Economic and Social Affairs 47 General Assembly 47 Economic and Social Council 47 UN Conference on Trade and Development 49 Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) 49 Commission for Social Development 50 Regional Economic Commissions 51 Economic Commission for Europe 51 Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean .... 52 Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific 53 Human Rights 54 Status of Women 56 Commission on the Status of Women 56 Crime Prevention and Control 58 Drug Abuse Control 59 NGO Committee 61 4. Development and Humanitarian Relief Activities UN Development Program 63 UN Children's Fund 64 World Food Program 65 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 66 Disaster and Humanitarian Relief Activities 67 Tampere Convention 69 ReliefWeb 71 Population Activities 71 Human Settlements 72 5. Science, Technology, and Research UN Environment Program (UNEP) 75 Protection of World Climate 76 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) 76 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 77 UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation 77 6. Legal Developments International Court of Justice (ICJ) 79 Iran v. United States of America 79 Libya v. United States of America 80 Paraguay v. United States of America 80 Immunity from Legal Process of a Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights 81 International Law Commission (ILC) 81 UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) 82 Pending Legislation to Implement the UN Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency 82 Draft Convention on Commercial Finance 83 ii Table of Contents International Project Finance 83 Electronic Commerce 83 Future Work 84 International Recognition of Law Unification Work 84 International Criminal Court (ICC) 85 UN Decade of International Law 86 Host Country Relations 86 International Terrorism 87 Strengthening the Role of the United Nations 88 International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia 88 Law of the Sea 89 7. Administration and Budget Current Financial Situation of the United Nations 91 UN Budget 92 Audit Reports 93 Financing Peacekeeping Operations 94 Scale of Assessments 95 Committee for Program and Coordination 96 Joint Inspection Unit 97 Office of Internal Oversight Services 97 International Civil Service Commission 98 Human Resources Management 99 Employment of Americans 100 UN Joint Staff Pension Board 102 8. Specialized Agencies and Other Bodies Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 105 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 107 International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) 108 International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) 110 International Labor Organization (ILO) Ill International Maritime Organization (IMO) 113 International Monetary Fund (IMF) 115 International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 115 International Trade Center (ITC) 116 UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 1 17 Universal Postal Union (UPU) 118 World Health Organization (WHO) 120 Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) 123 International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) 124 Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) 124 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) 125 World Meteorological Organization (WMO) 126 Appendices 1. Address by President William J. Clinton 129 2. Principal Organs of the United Nations 135 General Assembly 135 Security Council 138 Trusteeship Council 138 Economic and Social Council 138 International Court of Justice 139 iii United States Participation in the United Nations - 1998 3. United States Representatives 141 UN General Assembly 141 Subsidiary and Other Bodies 141 Security Council 142 Trusteeship Council 142 Economic and Social Council and Related Bodies 142 Functional Commissions 143 Regional Economic Commissions 143 Standing Committees 144 Related Subsidiary Bodies 144 Specialized Agencies and Other Bodies 144 U.S. Permanent Representatives to the United Nations from 1946 to 1998 146 Index 147 iv Introduction Political and Security Affairs: The Security Council had mixed success in 1998 responding to threats to international peace and security. The United States provided leadership on the Council to continue insistence that Iraq comply with all relevant UN Security Council resolutions, and led coalition air strikes against Iraq when the Government continued to defy the Council. The Council adopted a U.S./U.K. initiative to try the PanAm 103 suspects by a Scottish court in the Netherlands, putting additional international pressure on Libya, but by the end of 1998, Tripoli had not turned over the accused terrorists. A small number of African states violated UN Security Council sanctions against Libya. In Africa, the situation in Sierra Leone, Congo, and Ethiopia/Eri- trea gave continued cause for concern, notwithstanding Council efforts to end the conflicts. Fighting resumed in Angola despite the presence of a UN peacekeeping contingent. Serbian atrocities continued in Kosovo in the face of Security Council appeals to stop the violence. The Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution which condemned India's and Pakistan's nuclear tests. In the General Assembly, U.S. efforts were instrumental in the adop- tion of a resolution deploring nuclear testing by India and Pakistan. How- ever, outdated and unbalanced rhetoric from the past crept back into several UN General Assembly resolutions on the Middle East. Over U.S. opposition, the General Assembly also upgraded the status of the Palestin- ian observer mission to the UN. The size and number of UN peacekeeping operations were relatively stable, with approximately 14,000 peacekeepers deployed. The small UN civilian police mission in Eastern Slavonia, Croatia, terminated on sched- ule in October. The Security Council established two new peacekeeping operations in the Central African Republic and in Sierra Leone. The U.S. Government continued to work with the United Nations and other coun- tries to improve the civilian police aspect of peacekeeping. The United States and Argentina cohosted a civilian police workshop in December as a follow-up to the UN seminar in March. UN Reform: During 1998, the General Assembly implemented many of Secretary General Annan's reform proposals, which the United States strongly sup- 1 United States Participation in the United Nations - 1998 ported. Cost savings enabled the 1998-1999 UN budget to be reduced to its lowest level since 1992-1993. The United States was instrumental in obtaining a 1 5 percent staffing reduction in the Department of Peacekeep- ing Operations. The United States also continued to urge that the Security Council be expanded, including a provision for permanent seats for Ger- many and Japan and up to three permanent seats from the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Economic and Social Affairs: Economic and social issues at the United Nations are considered both in the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council as well as in a range of regional and specialized commissions. The prominent eco- nomic issues debated in 1998 were the financial crisis, globalization, and trade and development. In each case, the United States sought balanced resolutions identifying best practices available to countries undergoing economic challenges. In the social arena, the United States highlighted its concern over con- tinued violations of human rights in a number of countries. At the UN Commission on Human Rights, the United States won support for resolu- tions detailing human rights violations in the former Yugoslavia and in Sudan. The Commission also approved a Chairman's