Colloquium on American Interests and the United Nations

Below is the rapporteur's summary of the working group on management and accountability. A list of the working group’s participants in provided at the end of the summary.

Summary

Dan Fata, Republican Policy Committee

Image on right: Task force member Wesley K. Clark participates in a discussion with Richard Schifter, a member of the UN System Management and Accountability Working Group.

Dan Fata of the Republican Policy Committee began the discussion with a clear presentation of attitudes toward the United Nations among Republicans in Congress and recommendations for reforming the institution.  He noted that there is a misconception about Republican attitudes toward the United Nations; in fact most do not want to tear it down but do want to seek justice for those who abuse the system, correct the UN’s failures, and make it more effective.  Among their concerns are the lack of transparency in the UN system, mismanagement of programs, lack of accountability at the top, abuse of power in the Oil-for-Food and peacekeeping programs, endemic corruption, systemic peacekeeping problems, and the lack of democracy within the institution.

Congress gathers information on the UN by consulting the media and think tanks, working with the U.S. Mission to the UN, meeting with senior UN officials, and listening to representatives from other member states.  Congress has a limited number of tools for promoting UN reform, the most important of which is the power of the purse.

Congress is looking at UN reform as follows:

• What should the goals be for UN operations and management?
• What is currently wrong with specific UN areas of responsibility?
• How can the problems be fixed?

On “transparency in the system”:

• The goal: a system that is run with clear lines of responsibility, internal auditing functions in each major department, an external independent auditor, and a sense of responsibility to the board of directors (i.e., the member states).
• Current problems: the system appears broken; endemic corruption (examples: the 2.2 percent commission in the Oil-for-Food program has been misused; Ruud Lubbers; peacekeeping abuses; Board of External Auditors now funded and staffed by three member states’ national auditing boards; no protection for whistle-blowers)
• Solutions:
  • make all audits, internal reviews, and reports available to member states;
  • reform UN auditing (Inspector General in each agency, Board of External Auditors funded with UN resources, Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) independent of senior UN management, greater funding and staffing for OIOS, and perhaps have OIOS report to the Security Council)
  • whistle-blower protection plan

On “proper management of programs – effectiveness”:

• The goal: a system that is effective, properly overseen, and results based.
• Current problems: Too many legacy programs, a flawed personnel system, and a lack of performance benchmarks for regularly assessed programs and offices
• Solutions:
  • Frequent rotation of senior officials to encourage fresh ideas and discourage corruption and abuse, and early retirement packages for underperformers
  • USG-like standards and performance benchmarks for programs
  • Automatic sun setting of programs
  • Transform some, if not all, programs funded by assessments into voluntary ones
  • Weighted voting on budget issues
  • Merit-based hiring, with senior positions allocated according to the percentage of a country’s regular budget contributions

On “accountability" – management:

• The goal: a system that is run like a corporation and led by example
• Current problems: UN Secretary General (UNSYG) is chief admin officer with little power
• Solutions:
  • Empower the SYG with more staff and the ability to move slots around
  • Streamline and rationalize the Secretariat structure
  • SYG should set up accountability standards for program managers
  • Empower the Deputy SYG to be Chief Operating Officer for Management
  • SYG should issue an annual report to the member states

On “accountability" – personnel system:

• The goal: A system that punishes those guilty of abuse of office
• Current problems: Not clear what punishment the following will incur: Benon Sevan, Ruud Lubbers, Iqbal Reza, as well as peacekeepers who commit sexual abuses
• Solutions:
  • Improve complaint procedures for work-place harassment
  • Improve code of conduct requirements for employees and contractors
  • Abolish diplomatic immunity for all criminal acts of past and present officials and employees

Ed Luck, Columbia University

In the second formal presentation, Ed Luck of Columbia University discussed some of Mr. Fata’s points and offered some independent observations.

• The United States set up the UN system on a philosophy of functionalism to keep its functions free from politics.  This highly decentralized system gave the SYG little power on purpose and makes change difficult and slow to implement.
• The UN has severe management problems and those who care about the institution should work to correct them.  However, the comparison to a corporation is not an apt one and not likely to yield solutions.  The UN doesn’t resemble a corporation with clear goals and a small board of directors.  The UN’s inability to make clear choices is one of its weaknesses.
• We need to discuss which problems are endemic to the system and which can be solved.  There is a real question whether many Americans want to see a strong UN.
• The SYG needs better management tools, including the power to transfer personnel within the system.  But is it possible to make the SYG more like a CEO?  He is not hired for his management skills but for his political and diplomatic skills.  Rather, perhaps we should create a Deputy SYG as the COO of the UN.
• The concept of democracy in the UN is an interesting one, but democracy is not mentioned in the Charter, and it is important that the organization be universal and include countries we don’t like.
• The system needs more accountability.  Results based budgeting was introduced in 1997; it works well in some places but not in others.  It is very difficult to quantify results in political programs.
• Weighted voting on budget issues has been tried in the past; now there is a system of consensus-based budgeting that seems to work well.
• The SYG has tried in the past to get sunset provisions for programs, but met with great resistance.  Kofi Annan’s effort to review programs over five years old is a step in this direction.
• It would not work for OIOS to report to the Security Council, which has no authority over money matters.
• The size of a country’s assessed contribution is, in theory, already a major factor in senior level appointments; there is a question whether the United States gets its fair share in practice.
• The United States has many good ideas about reforming the UN, but our manner in presenting these ideas contributes to defensiveness and a bunker mentality among some member states.
• Lifting diplomatic immunity for UN officials is a matter that requires member- state action. 
• There has been a recent trend toward more voluntary program funding.  However, if this were applied to all programs it would create management havoc and would make coordination of activities impossible.
• There is a feeling at the UN that U.S. ideas for UN reform tend to be selective and episodic.  Also, there are serious coordination problems in Washington, with various UN activities having their own constituencies in the Administration and on the Hill.
• The United States has a tendency to use only sticks to promote reform (i.e., withholding funding).  We should consider using carrots as well.
• The United States is not the most popular member state; much of what we propose is automatically opposed by many other member states just because it is the United States making the proposal.  This argues for much more consultation with other member states when we are serious about promoting reform.  We need to work especially with developing countries on our reform proposals.

General Discussion

In the ensuing general discussion, the following points were aired.

• There is a need for strong internal and external auditing systems at the UN.   The UN needs the equivalent of a corporate audit committee, perhaps an “Independent Oversight Board.”
• The Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) seems to be overstaffed (with 190 personnel) and under funded (with a budget of $24 million vs. a budget of $30 million for the Volcker Commission and $240 million for public relations).
• The SYG could be a better administrator, more like a CEO, if he were so inclined; Kofi Annan has not tried to exercise this kind of power.  For example, he has not eliminated a single program.
• The UN personnel system is in great need of overhaul.  There is no independent judgment about personnel performance.
• There was one suggestion that the UN General Assembly should change its committee system and create new committees to deal with real issues, rather than keep the six functional committees.  Others, however, questioned whether it is in the U.S. interest to give the GA the pretense that it is a real legislative body; it has been marginalized, and we should make sure it stays that way.
• Some feel it is important for this Task Force to define what we want out of the United Nations, what the United States sees as its mission and where it is going.  Others, however, felt that the focus should be on concrete programs, processes and problems, the “plumbing” of the institution as a more effective way of getting reform.
• The United Nations is not an organ of the United States, but is an international organization.  Reform proposals have to take that reality into account.  This reiterates the idea that we have to enlist other member states as allies if we really want to achieve reforms.
• The question of “bribery” was raised, and there was a discussion about whether this term refers to vote buying and the trading of posts, or to corrupt practices involving individual officials.  The former was acknowledged to be a fairly common practice, the latter less so.
• Several members of the panel noted the importance of jobs in the UN system.  For Third World member state citizens, these jobs mean a real lifetime opportunity and people will cling tenaciously to their positions.  This is an obstacle to reform.
• The United States can achieve many of its goals by focusing reform efforts on the Specialized Agencies, where the SYG has little influence.  In this regard, the World Bank could become a model for other UN bodies.
• Some questioned what the United States means by “reform.” Is it just cutting down on expenses and saving the United States money, or is there a desire for a stronger, more effective United Nations?
• Mr. Fata concluded the session by dealing with this question and noting that Congressional Republicans want a strong, effective UN operating within the mandate it was originally given to solve specific kinds of problems.  The nation state is still the basic unit of international relations.  Member states have given up a portion of their sovereignty to the UN to solve these problems, but the UN’s powers are limited and should remain that way.

Participants in Working Group #1

• Moderator: George Ward, U.S. Institute of Peace
• Rapporteur: Joseph Snyder
• Presenters
  • Dan Fata, Republican Policy Committee
  • Ed Luck, Columbia University
• Members
  • Sunil Chacko, New Info. Solutions, LLC
  • John Fox, Formerly UN Joint Inspection Unit
  • Donald Hays, Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations on Management Issues and USIP Guest Scholar
  • Rod Hills, Hills & Stern, LLP and Member, Task Force on the United Nations
  • Branka Jikich, Center for Strategic and International Studies and Expert, Task Force on the United Nations
  • Thomas Melito, Government Accountability Office
  • Johanna Mendelson-Forman, United Nations Foundation
  • Susan Myers, Better World Campaign
  • Brett Schaefer, The Heritage Foundation and Expert, Task Force on the United Nations
  • Richard Schifter, Former Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs
  • Jim Sutterlin, Former Advisor to the UN Secretariat
  • Phil Thomas, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs