U.S. demands U.N. to carry out reforms

Congress demanded the United Nations General Assembly to stop what it called, “unilateral decisions against Israel”, Israeli news website Yedioth Ahronot reported.

 

The bill described the Palestinian resistance to the occupation as terrorism and described its actions against the Palestinians as self-defense.

 

The Congress’ bill also slammed the fact that Israel is not represented in the U.N. Security Council, and that it does not occupy any position in Human Rights programs, and stated that it will work to grant Israel full membership.

 

“The President shall direct the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to expand the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) in the United Nations to include Israel as a permanent member with full rights and privileges,” sec 107 of the bill reads.

 

Not later than six months after the date of the enactment of the Act and every six months thereafter for the next two years, the Secretary of State shall notify the appropriate congressional committees concerning the treatment of Israel in the United Nations and the expansion of WEOG to include Israel as a permanent member, says the bill.

 

The measure, which passed in the committee by a vote of 25 to 22, includes several critical proposals which would, allow the United States to withhold dues payments if the United Nations does not make a series of operational reforms.

 

It also calls for the shifting of 18 programs, including economic and social affairs, least-developed countries, trade and development, refugee protection, international drug control, and Palestinian refugees, from the regular assessed budget to voluntarily funded programs, thus giving ‘all countries more control over how to best invest their contributions,’ said HIRC chairman Henry Hyde. If this reform is not adopted, the bill calls for Washington to redirect its contributions to ‘priority areas, which include internal oversight, human rights, and humanitarian assistance’.

 

The bill demanded the U.N. to prohibit membership on the Human Rights Commission for any country that is under U.N. investigation for human rights violations. It would also require new audits, qualification standards, and a code of conduct for U.N. peacekeeping missions.

 

Countries subject to sanctions by the Security Council or country-specific human-rights resolutions would be banned from serving on the UN Human Rights Commission. In a bow to Israel, the bill also mandates that no UN human rights body could have a standing agenda item that related only to one country.

 

Congress also required detailed financial disclosures for top U.N. officials to prevent such financial conflicts of interest as were revealed in the Oil-for-Food Program investigation.

 

Failure to implement any of the specific mandates would result in the withholding of half of the assessed US obligations, which amounted to US$438 million this year.