The Foreign Service Journal, September 2020

56 SEPTEMBER 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL U.N. civilian staff members were murdered in Benghazi, Libya, the Secretary-General swiftly issued public condemnation; but neither he nor his office ever called the U.N.’s mission in Libya to express condolences and offer support. U.N. professionals advo- cating respect for human rights are currently viewed as particu- larly suspect, since human rights advocacy can create tensions with U.N. member states. (So far, however, the organization still manages to recruit astonishingly talented and motivated indi- viduals from all over the world, and Guterres deserves credit for significant progress in promoting gender parity at all levels.) These are not new problems, although 38th-floor disdain for career professionals, combined with the financial crisis pro- voked by U.S. arrears, has sunk U.N. staff morale to new lows. But if genuine, comprehensive reform often seems out of reach, the organization’s replacement or abolition seems worse. More than any other country, the United States shaped the development of the U.N. system and brought about the current operating system of normative values in the Turtle Bay machin- ery. Walking away from where we have, essentially, a home-field advantage in an increasingly competitive world seems short- sighted and foolish: how delighted China and Russia must be when we abandon the playing field and create vacuums they can fill. But U.N. relevance and value as a force multiplier for our interests and values rest on the United States exercising leader- ship that simultaneously manages to be thoughtful, forceful and respectful. n Once a broad consensus of governments, industry and civil society groups has agreed on acceptable standards of behavior, the U.N. is the only body that can endorse global applicability.