UN Reform

The United States is committed to the founding ideals of the United Nations. We believe that it serves a vital purpose, providing a forum where nations can work together to advance freedom, democracy, peace, human rights, and prosperity for all people. These ideals are best carried out through an effective United Nations that is equipped to address the challenges of the 21st century.

In recent years, the Security Council has acted to mitigate the violence in Sudan, grapple with Iran's and North Korea's efforts to develop nuclear arsenals, stabilize the situation in Afghanistan, and support Lebanon in the aftermath of conflict.

UN agencies are regularly called upon to address urgent transnational needs, like combating HIV/AIDS and the threat of avian flu, providing relief following natural disasters, protecting refugees, and providing food and other humanitarian assistance to millions worldwide.

The United States has taken a leading role in helping the United Nations to achieve these and other goals in the most effective and efficient way possible - for example, the United States remains the largest financial contributor to the UN, in terms of both assessed and voluntary contributions. Like other contributors, we favor effective, results-based management because money wasted means less funding for effective programs that can improve lives.

Greater accountability and a full assessment of the effectiveness of UN programs would better equip the organization to fulfill its important, originally intended purpose. Reform would be to the benefit of all Member States. UN Programs to advance peace, development, public health, and human rights are particularly important to developing countries. Arguably, they have an even bigger stake in creating a more effective organization than the developed nations that are the UN's largest financial contributors.

Priority areas for UN reform include ethics, accountability, transparency, efficiency, and effectiveness. The United States supports the achievement of these concerns through the United Nations Transparency and Accountability Initiative.