FCNL joined 101 other civil society organizations committed to multilateral cooperation as a means to creating a better, safer world, write to Congressional leadership to urge them to support strong U.S. leadership at the United Nations.
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Majority Leader
United States Senate
U.S. Capitol Building, Room S-230
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Paul Ryan
Speaker of the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
U.S. Capitol Building, Room 232
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Charles Schumer
Minority Leader
United States Senate
U.S. Capitol Building, Room S-224
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Minority Leader
United States House of Representatives
U.S. Capitol Building, Room 204
Washington, DC 20510
February 28, 2017
Dear Leader McConnell, Leader Schumer, Speaker Ryan, and Leader Pelosi:
As civil society organizations committed to multilateral cooperation as a means to creating a better, safer world, we urge you to support strong U.S. leadership at the United Nations, including by fully meeting our nation’s financial obligations to the organization. Continued engagement with the UN is critical to advancing a number of core U.S. foreign policy objectives, including securing recent gains in international development, delivering lifesaving humanitarian assistance, combating terrorism, encouraging the peaceful resolution of conflict, and promoting universal human rights.
The world is currently facing upheaval on a range of fronts. Devastating conflicts in Syria, Iraq, and South Sudan, among others, have killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions more from their homes, climate change and its destabilizing impacts continue to mount, and public health challenges new and old underscore the need for enhanced global cooperation. Given the complex and transnational nature of these challenges, and the finite resources available to address them, it is clear that the UN must rededicate itself to reforming its operations and management practices so it can be more nimble, responsive, and effective. The U.S. has gained an important ally in this effort in the new Secretary-General, António Guterres, who as UN High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015 gained a well-deserved reputation for results-oriented and forward-looking leadership.
Now is the time to engage robustly and constructively with Mr. Guterres to achieve these ends, and avoid counterproductive actions, such as withholding financial support for the UN, that will only isolate the U.S. from its international partners and stymie efforts to achieve real and sustainable reform. This viewpoint has been articulated by both Republican and Democratic Administrations for decades. Earlier this month, for example, during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Ambassador Nikki Haley stated repeatedly that she opposed the “slash-and-burn” approach to UN funding advocated by some observers. Furthermore, in 2005, when Congress was considering legislation to tie the payment of U.S. dues to reform, a bipartisan group of eight former U.S. Ambassadors to the UN—including Jeane Kirkpatrick, John Danforth, Richard Holbrooke, and Madeleine Albright—authored a letter opposing the proposal. “Withholding our dues to the UN is the wrong methodology,” the letter argued. “When we last built debt with the UN, the United States isolated ourselves from our allies within the UN and made diplomacy a near impossible task.”
The UN is very often, in conjunction with the U.S., the world’s first responder in times of crisis and need. Each year, UN humanitarian agencies like the World Food Program, UN Children’s Fund, UN Refugee Agency, and UN Population Fund provide food and nutrition assistance, clean water, vaccines, maternal health care, and other critical services to tens of millions of people affected by conflict or natural disasters worldwide; organizations like the UN Development Program work to fight poverty and build more resilient communities; UN peacekeepers stabilize fragile states, protect civilians, and support peaceful transitions of power; and the World Health Organization seeks to ensure global coordination to prevent and respond to disease outbreaks. Through the work of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN also plays a unique role in ensuring a coherent and effective response to emergencies, helping to strengthen and systematize efforts by an array of actors on the ground, including national governments, NGOs, and UN agencies themselves.
By partnering with the UN on these initiatives, the U.S. not only advances its own interests and values, but also helps share the financial burden for responding to global crises and long-standing challenges with other countries, thereby saving U.S. taxpayers money in the long-run. That is why both Republicans and Democrats have recognized the value of various UN activities over the decades, from peacekeeping to humanitarian response to development assistance. It is therefore imperative that the U.S., while pushing for necessary reforms, continues to maintain its seat at the table by fully funding its dues payments and providing robust levels of voluntary contributions to the UN system. To do otherwise risks forfeiting the United States’ long-held position of leadership at the UN, potentially hollowing out UN programs and activities that are squarely in U.S. national interests, ceding control to countries that deny the universality of human rights and liberties, and empowering countries that are not committed to a stronger, more effective, or more accountable United Nations.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA)
Alianza Americas
Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, Yale Law School
Amazon Watch
American Jewish World Service
American Public Health Association
American Red Cross
Americans for UNESCO
Amnesty International USA
Athletes for Hope
Baha’is of the United States
Better World Campaign
Bread for the World
CARE USA
Center for Civilians in Conflict
Center for Health and Gender Equity
Center for International Environmental Law
Center for Reproductive Rights
Church and Society – The United Methodist Church
Church World Service
Coalition for Peace Action
Colombia Human Rights Committee
Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach
Communities in Transition
Disability Rights International
Episcopal Relief & Development
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Franciscan Action Network
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Friends of the Earth - United States
Friends of UNFPA
Girl Up
Global Health Council
Grieboski Global Strategies
Helen Keller International
HIAS
Human Rights Advocates
Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Watch
Humanity United
Indian Law Resource Center
InterAction
International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination (ICAAD)
International Center for Research on Women
International Crisis Group
International Human Rights Clinic, University of Chicago Law School
International Justice Network
International Justice Project
International Refugee Rights Initiative
International Rescue Committee
International Women’s Health Coalition
IntraHealth International
Invisible Children
Islamic Relief USA
J Street
Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights
John Snow, Inc. (JSI)
Justice Strategies
Latin America Working Group
Management Sciences for Health
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Mercy Corps
Mercy-USA for Aid and Development
National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
National Council of Churches, USA
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
Nothing But Nets
Norwegian Refugee Council USA
Oxfam
PATH
Pathfinder International
Peace Direct
Peace is Loud
PEN America
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Population Council
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Project on Middle East Democracy
Protect the People
Refugees International
Saferworld
Santa Clara Law - International Human Rights Clinic
Save the Children
Shot@Life
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas - Justice Team
STAND: The Student-led Movement to End Mass Atrocities
TB Alliance
The Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation
The Hunger Project
The International Corporate Accountability Roundtable
The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights
U.S. Fund for UNICEF
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries
United Nations Association of the United States of America
United States Pharmacopeial Convention
Universal Access Project
Washington Office on Latin America
WaterAid
White Ribbon Alliance
World Education, Inc.
cc: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
cc: Ambassador Nikki Haley
