Council for a Livable World
May 31, 2001
Relations between the United States and the United Nations are at a cross-roads. Recently, the U.S. was voted off the Human Rights Commission and the International Narcotics Control Board at the UN. At the same time, the U.S. has not fully paid its dues to the world body, and refuses to sign or ratify broadly supported UN treaties. Many members of Congress, some openly hostile to the UN, question the usefulness of peacekeeping operations, claiming that they divert U.S. troops from their true purpose - fighting U.S. wars.
In the midst of this, the Council for a Livable World Education Fund has re-released The U.S. Role in United Nations Peace Operations. Now in its third edition, this important overview of the U.S. role in peacekeeping argues that the U.S. should become more involved in UN peace operations, and that the UN be strengthened to deal with the world's myriad problems.
"It is no longer an issue of whether America will choose isolationism or engagement. ...It is instead an issue of leadership and a calculation of the human costs of doing nothing or doing too little too late to prevent a range of catastrophes," the book claims. This "implies that international responsibility is the price of power and influence. The United States is uniquely positioned to move the United Nations forward in all aspects of peace operations..."
Written by Linda S. Jamison, the report also examines how peace operations work, outlines the U.S. experience with peacekeeping, including U.S. policy towards the UN and recent congressional issues that have dominated the political debate, including the longstanding issues of U.S. arrears and UN reform.
Additionally, the briefing book proposes that the UN "cannot be as legitimate or as effective when its wealthiest, most influential member sits on the sidelines, dithers over its dues and debts, applauds UN successes but abandons failures, and often makes little attempt to provide the leadership to make the international organization work as it was intended."
Peace operations require the U.S. to take a more assertive role in global affairs, and help the world community understand what the UN can realistically accomplish. U.S. leadership must employ every degree of influence it has to ensure that UN peace operations succeed. For without a strong and legitimate UN, the report claims, the U.S. will be drawn into more conflicts that are neither politically nor morally sustainable.
Unless the UN is strengthened and reformed, "capabilities will wither and failures will outnumber successes...and human kind will continue to sit by and witness another century like the last where over 110 million people were killed as a result of war and violent conflict," states The U.S. Role in United Nations Peace Operations.
