A NEW U.S. STRATEGY AT THE UNITED NATIONS

The recent debate over Iraq demonstrates how important it is for the United States to maintain its presence and visibility at the United Nations. While the community of nations may have disagreements from time to time, the agenda of democracy promotion, human rights, and counter-terrorism, is one on which all nations should be able to work together. It's crucial that the United Nations and the United States take steps to work more comprehensively together on these items that will be so critical to international security in the 21st century.

As part of a task force sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations and Freedom House, retired Congressman Lee Hamilton (D-IN), former chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, and I recently presided over the unveiling of a bi-partisan task force report on improving the effectiveness of the United States at the United Nations. Other members of the task force included former officials from Republican and Democratic administrations, as well as leading academics and representatives from non-governmental organizations.

The report calls for a new American strategy at the U.N. in the areas of democracy promotion, human rights, and cooperative counter-terrorism efforts. Among its recommendations, it calls for the creation of a "democracy caucus" at the U.N. comprised of like-minded democracies that would band together to promote democratization, adherence to international human rights norms, and work together to combat terrorism at the United Nations.

The report also notes that the U.N. has had successes in areas such as refugee and poverty assistance, but too often the U.N. agenda is hijacked by a small group of repressive and undemocratic regimes. In particular, the U.N. General Assembly and the Human Rights Commission have not been completely cooperative in advancing the agendas of democracy, human rights, and counter-terrorism.