UNITED NATIONS — The U.S. push for reform of the United Nations is off to a murky start ahead of next week’s General Assembly, with a draft declaration already under fire for being a far cry from what would be expected from an ‘America First’ administration.
The Trump administration, and in particular U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, has made it clear that U.N. reform is a top goal for the administration. Proposals for deep cuts to U.S. contributions sent “shockwaves” through the U.N., Haley told a congressional hearing in June.
Additionally, Haley has targeted the U.N.’s anti-Israel bias in institutions like the Security Council and the Human Rights Council. She has also urged the Security Council to take tougher action in areas such as North Korea and the presence of Hezbollah in Lebanon—seeing victories on both issues.
Trump will address the General Assembly next week and will also be chairing an event on U.N. reform on Monday—an area that has brought Trump and new Secretary-General António Guterres into a rare moment of common agreement.
But a draft statement, first reported by Fox News, shows a series of declarations that look more like business-as-usual than a serious push for deep reforms.
After declaring confidence in Guterres’ reform initiatives, it uses standard diplomatic language to “commit to strengthening partnership and trust between and among Member States and the Secretariat to support reform efforts for a more effective and efficient organization,” and encourages “stronger collaboration across the United Nations system for improved mandate delivery.”
It also asks Guterres to “pursue impactful and field-centric management reforms.”
While many of the goals are in line with the administration’s, calling for greater transparency, oversight and to reduce overlaps, the draft includes recognition for the U.N to give a “platform for partnership to enable global sustainable development”—a reference to the U.N.’s broad globalist program that has a central pillar of fighting climate change.
The proposal was immediately criticized by conservatives disappointed at the language, noting that it appeared to be business as usual at the U.N.
“The draft declaration is just the usual rhetoric. It could have been issued five years ago, or 50 years ago,” John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., told Fox News. He added that it “reads like it was drafted by the U.N. Secretariat.”
The Heritage Foundation’s Brett Schaefer cautioned that it could still be a good start and that the proof would be in the details.
“It’s a good starting point for discussions, but the impact will be measured by the concrete details agreed to at the high-level event and adopted during the UNGA (U.N. General Assembly),” Schaefer told Fox.
Trump is scheduled to chair the event on U.N. reform on Monday and address the General Assembly Tuesday.
Guterres said in a press conference this week that he was hopeful the two could find common ground on a number of issues.
“I think that all the efforts I’ve been making until now are in the direction of trying to create conditions for the relationship between the United States and the United Nations to be a constructive relationship,” he said. “And I hope that that will also be the message of President Trump, and I hope that, if that is the message that will be conveyed, that message will be well received.”
Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY
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