Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, I rise to speak about legislation I introduced today to encourage comprehensive and long-lasting reforms at the United Nations. I want to thank my colleague Senator JAMES INHOFE from Oklahoma for joining me on this effort. I also commend the Chair of the House Foreign Affairs' Committee--and fellow Floridian Congresswoman ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN for leading on this effort in the House of Representatives.

The United Nations was created in 1945 with the specific mandate of maintaining the hard-fought peace that followed the end of World War II. Just as it was then, today our nation's security and prosperity is influenced by conflicts and events taking place in various near and far-flung places. The United States cannot and should not attempt to address these conflicts on its own. More than six decades later, we still need a U.N. with resolve, a U.N. that acts with effectiveness and purpose. Sadly, the U.N.'s persistent ethics and accountability problems are limiting its role. Until the organization addresses these important issues, the stature of the organization will continue to suffer in the eyes of the world.

Examples of this troubling situation abound, from the ongoing efforts to circumvent direct negotiations to end the Israeli-Arab conflict, to the discredited Human Rights Council led by the world's most notorious tyrants and human rights violators, to the proliferation of mandates that have clouded the organization's mission and effectiveness.

My hope with this legislation is to provide an incentive for the United Nations and the President, to modernize that international body along a spirit of transparency, respect for basic human freedoms, and effective nonproliferation. This legislation would also attempt to address the anti-Semitic attitudes that have become so prevalent in certain corners of the U.N. and seriously diminish the credibility of the entire U.N. system.

At the core of these reforms is an effort to instill a sense of transparency and competition at the U.N. by its adoption of a budgetary model that relies mostly on voluntary contributions. This legislation would also strengthen the international standing of human rights by reforming the U.N. Human Rights Council in a way that it would deny membership to nations under U.N. sanctions, designated by our Department of State as States Sponsors of Terrorism, or failing to take measures to combat and end the despicable practice of human trafficking. Other provisions seek meaningful reforms at the U.N. Relief and Work Agency that provides assistance to Palestinian refugees of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict.

This legislation is needed because the structure and bureaucratic culture of the organization often makes it impossible or, at best, downright difficult to achieve meaningful reforms. It follows on the steps of previously successful Congressional initiatives on this matter. Every previously successful American effort for reform at the U.N. has been accompanied with the threat of withholding our valuable contributions. I wish this wasn't the case, but this is the record, so it is part of our legislation.

In closing, the United Nations has served as the primary multilateral forum to address peace and security issues throughout the world, and I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues in achieving meaningful transparency and accountability reforms at that international body.

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