The Foreign Service Journal, December 2008

issues of the rest of the world will assist any U.S. adminis- tration in gathering support for its agenda at the U.N. Toward that end, any presidential speech to the General Assembly should begin by recognizing and paying respect to the priorities of other nations. Human Rights. Members of Congress and many Americans believe that defending human rights around the world is a major function of the U.N. The next administration can assert new influence by seeking a seat and a leadership role on the Human Rights Council, which could help to improve the workings of this new and controversial body. A new administration needs to make the case that it will strengthen the U.N.’s role in protecting human rights, since that is so crucial to American perceptions about why we even have a United Nations. The record of the new Human Rights Council has been offensive to many Americans because of its seem- ingly singleminded obsession with Israel. Although criti- cism of Israel is likely to continue at the member-state level, a strong U.S. leadership role could help broaden the agenda and occupy the Council with pressing human rights violations in other countries. Moreover, since the new body is charged with reviewing every member-state periodically, the opportunity exists to shift toward making this review process more central to its work. Then there is the concern about the presence on the Council of some of the worst human rights offenders. Sadly, the way regions propose their nominees makes it virtually certain that some of the worst violators will achieve membership. This is a serious flaw in the prac- tices of the U.N. that must be addressed. Yet it is also telling that so many of the major violators take the work of the Council so seriously that they want to be on it as a way of protection. U.S. membership is needed to make the body more effective and more balanced. The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. The new pres- ident will send an important signal by his selection of a new ambassador to the United Nations. To bring about the changes called for above, he will need to appoint a credible, committed and distinguished American with serious international experience to represent him as the U.S. permanent representative to the body. The ambas- sador should be a member of the Cabinet, with the tal- ent to listen with patience and work with other nations — friends and adversaries — on the immediate chal- lenges the U.S. faces on issues under U.N. considera- tion. He or she should also learn the arcane diplomatic practices of the United Nations. Diplomats for Multilateral Organizations. Tradi- tionally, Washington has not given much weight to multi- lateral diplomacy, and it shows. Our inexperience with how this unique facet of international relations works is an important reason for our relative ineffectiveness, and that needs to change. Many lesser powers send their best and most experi- enced diplomats and political leaders to fill top diplomat- ic posts at the U.N., which is often the best place to do a nation’s business on many bilateral and multilateral issues. For instance, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was probably the most experienced authority from any nation on the workings of the United Nations. Likewise, the U.S. needs trained professionals to represent it at all interna- tional organizations. A Full Agenda While a new U.S. global strategy of collaboration is urgently needed, the new president will also have to focus on reviving the domestic economy and restoring confi- dence in the financial system — even as he faces the growing, costly and seemingly open-ended challenges of two wars that are draining our energies and those of our allies. And at perhaps no time since 1969 has a new pres- ident succeeded an administration that has so angered and exhausted the American population. The next president will therefore face historically unprecedented challenges — but that very fact argues even more persuasively for a fresh commitment to inter- national engagement and cooperation. Even as Franklin D. Roosevelt launched the New Deal, he also took the extremely unpopular, yet prescient, steps of establishing relations with the Soviet Union and pursuing a new, more forward-leaning approach to Europe. Seven decades later, the new president will also need to combine innova- tion and bold policies with realism. Fortunately, this challenge is also an opportunity. The new American president has a chance to restore our coun- try’s place in the world—not by trying to restore a former image, but by creating a new American face and by pro- viding enlightened leadership in developing new approaches to global issues through cooperation. A clos- er relationship with a stronger United Nations system and with its many member-states will help get America where it needs to be. F O C U S 20 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8