April 9, 2009. The United Nations Association of the United States of America announces the appointment of Thomas J. Miller as its new president. Tom Miller succeeds William H. Luers, who has served a distinguished 11-year tenure.

The United Nations Association of America (UNA-USA) is pleased to announce that Ambassador Thomas J. Miller will become president of the organization as of May 11, 2009. Miller brings 29 years of high-profile experience as a career diplomat in the US Foreign Service to his new role. His career includes ambassadorships to Greece and to Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as a Cyprus negotiator.

Most recently, Miller served as the chief executive of Plan International, a $650 million, 72-year-old international agency that focuses on improving children’s lives in developing countries.

“I’ve known Tom for over 20 years, and I believe that his experience and passion make him an ideal leader for the UNA-USA as it continues to strive to meet its important and relevant mission,” said Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, co-chairman of UNA-USA.

UNA-USA President William H. Luers concurred: “I couldn’t be more pleased with the selection of Tom Miller, and I look forward to passing the baton and helping him in any way I can.”

As chief executive from January 2005 through January 2009, Miller was based at Plan International’s headquarters in London, where he was responsible for the coordination and management of all the agency’s operations in 49 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Miller spent 29 years in the US Foreign Service, working on policy issues in the Balkans, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. He began his career in Southeast Asia, serving in Thailand, where he focused on refugee issues. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Miller worked in the State Department on Middle East and North African matters, including the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. He also served as executive assistant to the President’s Middle East envoy. Miller was named ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1999. During his two years in Sarajevo, he worked on postwar political and economic reconstruction as well as refugee and humanitarian issues.

Miller served at the US Embassy in Athens three times, including as US ambassador to Greece in 2001-2004. At the State Department in Washington and in Greece, he concentrated on counterterrorism, focusing particularly on domestic terrorism in Greece and security during the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. After receiving numerous State Department awards throughout his career, including the Equal Opportunity Award, the Cobb Award for Commercial Excellence, the Superior Honor Award five times and the Meritorious Honor Award, Miller retired from the Foreign Service in December 2004.

Miller has also taught university courses on international relations and diplomacy. He founded the Model United Nations program in Washington, DC, in 1993, a program that continues to flourish. He created a similar Model UN organization in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Miller initiated the Community Service Network for local and American volunteers at US embassies in Sarajevo and Athens and personally participated in rebuilding homes for war returnees in Bosnia and refurbishing buildings for refugees and disabled children in Athens. He also helped found the Athens chapter of Habitat for Humanity. He serves on the board of D.A.R.E. (a US-based antidrug organization) and other advisory boards. Miller is married to the former Bonnie Stern and has a daughter and a son.

“In my view, UNA’s vision and mission are vital, timely and more important than ever,” said Tom Miller, UNA-USA's incoming president. “We see great potential for working with the new US administration and the American people to maximize the important ‘win-win’ relationship between the United Nations and the United States. I look forward to the opportunity to serve the UNA and to help it achieve this important mission.”

The search for a new president began after Luers announced last fall that he was stepping down from his position at UNA-USA. His career includes a long and distinguished span in the Foreign Service, a significant tenure as president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and more than 10 years at the helm of the UN Association.

“As head of UNA-USA, Bill has added greatly to its growth and work on behalf of the UN and its supporters across the country,” said William J. McDonough, co-chairman of UNA-USA. “The board wishes to express its appreciation for his years of dedication.”

For 65 years, UNA-USA has helped lead America’s international efforts through its membership in the United Nations. UNA-USA continues to be an influential institution and opinion leader for our nation. As an American organization with 155 chapters throughout the country, the work and programs of UNA-USA are both universal and nonpartisan, working as an ambassador to promote society’s highest collective values and aspirations.

Two years ago, under the leadership of Luers, the UNA-USA board engaged in a new strategic planning process. The focus was on the best way to achieve the goals of the UNA vision, which tasks the organization to strive for “a world in which humanity is spared the scourge of war, human rights are honored, the natural environment is protected and the United States is a constructive member of the United Nations for the well-being of all humankind.”

UNA-USA is therefore dedicated to:
• Educating, inspiring and mobilizing Americans to support the principles and vital work of the UN;
• Strengthening the UN system;
• Promoting constructive US leadership in that system; and
• Achieving the goals of the UN Charter

To achieve these priorities, UNA-USA relies on the fundamental belief that beneficial change begins with education. These goals include educating Americans about the conditions for creating peace, economic balance and justice worldwide; the consequences of changes to the earth’s environment; the importance of human rights and justice for all; and the responsibilities and potential of individual and national participation in world affairs.

For more information on Thomas J. Miller and UNA-USA, call Chris Tangney, 212-907-1382.

UNA-USA Applauds US Decision to Seek Election to Human Rights Council

April 1, 2009. The United Nations Association of the USA (UNA-USA) strongly supports the decision of the Obama Administration to seek election in May 2009 to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

“This decision is an acknowledgement of the important role that the United States can play in working with others to enhance the effectiveness of the UN’s premier forum for advancing human rights worldwide,” said Ambassador William H. Luers, president of UNA-USA. Luers stressed that the United States could best improve the Council’s performance by participating directly in the Council’s work, not criticizing it from the outside.

The US decision to take part in the Human Rights Council is all the more important since UN member states will meet in 2011 to review its working methods. The Council’s first five-year review conference will set the stage for member states to adopt changes that can improve the Council’s structure and procedures for years to come.

By participating in the period leading up to the review conference, the United States will also be able to build coalitions across regional groups and to ensure that gross human rights violations around the world are addressed by the international community. The United States should use the Council’s Universal Periodic Review mechanism to investigate human rights abuses and hold member states accountable for their rights record.

UNA-USA leaders and members across the country have urged the government to participate in the work of the Human Rights Council since its creation by the UN General Assembly in 2006. Successive national conventions of UNA-USA have adopted strong resolutions calling for the United States to seek a seat on the Council, demonstrating that this position has been an important component of the Association’s national advocacy agenda in the last three years.

As an organization whose early leaders included Eleanor Roosevelt and other human rights activists, UNA-USA believes that the advancement of human rights is central to the UN’s role in building a more peaceful and just world.

March 13, 2009. On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of the United Nations Association of the USA and our entire membership, we express our sorrow upon learning of the death of Leonore Annenberg, a longtime friend and supporter of this organization, a strong advocate for improved education for public school students throughout the United States and a visionary philanthropist who, with her husband Walter, became prominent philanthropists in support of education, the arts, medicine, and communications. Following the death of her husband, Mrs. Annenberg continued to be a creative force in deploying the resources of the Annenberg Foundation to improve the lives, education, and global understanding of Americans. The Annenbergs were great patriots and believers in public service. Their values played a central role in their giving to the institutions and causes that they deemed important. They set a high standard for philanthropy and philanthropists.


The Annenberg Foundation was one of the first major supporters of UNA-USA’s Global Classrooms educational program which has, in just a decade, become a major program for public school systems in ten of the nation’s largest cities. The program prepares students to become global citizens and helps them to understand the impact of globalization on their lives and communities. The Annenberg Foundation provided UNA-USA financial support as well as wisdom, drawn from decades of educational work in the American urban public school system in virtually every part of the nation. Having become one of the largest and most dependable supporters of our educational programs, the Annenberg Foundation also supported our broader mission to achieve an expanded American agenda for engaging the world and working with the United Nations.

Lee Annenberg, as she was known to many of us, developed the work of the Foundation alongside her husband, while participating as a strong individual leader in many areas of primary interest to her, most particularly in the arts and education. As Chief of Protocol for President Ronald Reagan, as a Board member of many of the most prominent American museums and educational institutions, she was always a distinguished and respected partner of the remarkably successful and influential Walter Annenberg. Her towering presence in this nation and in this organization will be long remembered and long honored by us.


William McDonough – Co Chairman

Thomas Pickering – Co-Chairman

John C. Whitehead – Vice Chairman

William H. Luers - President

March 4, 2009. Ambassador William H. Luers, president of the United Nations Association of the USA, issued the following statement about the International Criminal Court’s Darfur investigation:
UNA-USA praises today’s decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir, president of Sudan, in a step toward accountability for the atrocities in Darfur. The judges found sufficient evidence to charge President Bashir with seven counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, extermination and rape. This marks the first time the ICC has issued a warrant for a sitting head of state.
UNA-USA has consistently supported the creation and development of the ICC through its national conventions’ resolutions and statements. UNA-USA also has its own ICC program, the American NGO Coalition for the ICC, or AMICC. With other supporters, UNA-USA views the establishment of the court as a major, enduring success of the UN. UNA-USA is therefore encouraged that this new and important milestone for the ICC has been passed.
While we at UNA-USA recognize that this action by the court may have unpredictable consequences in Sudan, we believe that the warrant for President Bashir and the ICC’s other cases demonstrate that the court is functioning according to its role as an international judicial institution. The decision of Pre-Trial Chamber I to issue the warrant makes clear that the Office of the Prosecutor presented compelling evidence to its judges.
UNA-USA urges the United States to continue its leadership in opposing any Security Council action to stop the prosecution of President Bashir under Article 16 of the Rome Statute. UNA-USA calls on the US government to encourage all countries to ensure the delivery of President Bashir to the ICC.

Feb. 17, 2009. The United Nations Association of the USA (UNA-USA) welcomes the decision announced Feb. 14 by the Obama administration to engage in negotiations leading up to the Durban Review Conference addressing racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. The US decision does not indicate a commitment to participate in the World Conference Against Racism in Geneva, Switzerland, from April 20 to 24, 2009. Nevertheless, UNA-USA believes that United States participation in the preparatory meetings is a significant step towards setting the stage for a constructive dialogue on international strategies to combat racism and advance the UN’s human rights agenda at the conference.

“Combating racism and xenophobia is perhaps the most important challenge facing the world in this era of globalization,” said William H. Luers, president of UNA-USA. “It is essential that the United States engage with other UN member states to find ways to overcome prejudice against others, which is often at the source of conflict and instability, and which threatens our collective security. In this regard, we believe that the Obama administration can make an invaluable contribution to the outcome document that will be considered as a blueprint for future action by the governments participating in the conference.”

While fully aware of the controversy that has surrounded the UN’s past efforts to combat racism, UNA-USA believes that the Durban Declaration and Program of Action adopted at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism has played a critical role in enabling individuals and governments to address the impact of racism and xenophobia in their societies. And, while we realize that this issue will continue to evoke controversy, it is simply too important to ignore. For this reason, we support the administration’s effort to do all that it can in the days leading up to the conference to ensure the best possible outcome for addressing this challenge.

President Bush Announces Special Envoy for Darfur by Jennifer Cvetkovski

In his speech at the 61st session of the UN General Assembly, President George W. Bush announced a presidential special envoy to lead US efforts in bringing peace to the Darfur region of Sudan.  Andrew Natsios, a former administrator for the US Agency for International Development and a former special humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, has taken on the appointment.  Natsios will be traveling shortly to Sudan in an attempt to convince the Sudanese government to accept UN peacekeepers and to encourage Darfur rebels to stop fighting.  President Bush addressed his remarks to the people of Darfur when he said, "the world must step forward to provide additional humanitarian aid, and we must strengthen the African Union force that has done good work but is not strong enough to protect you". Bush's appointment of an envoy underscores the US' concern over the failure of action in Darfur.  Both major US political parties are united on Darfur and stress the need to take action. "Quite often we find ourselves on different sides on a number of issues, but on the issue of the importance of dealing with the genocide of Darfur we stand united," stated Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) who visited the UN in September with Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to meet with Sudan's ambassador and press for greater international scrutiny of the carnage in Darfur. 

In 2004, former US Secretary of State Colin Powell called the killings in Darfur genocide, yet the bloodshed between the rebel groups, government forces and government allied militias continues and has killed an estimated 400,000 people and displaced approximately two million others.  Sudan refuses to allow UN peacekeepers into Darfur, even after the UN passed Resolution 1706 on August 31, which would send 20,000 peacekeepers to Darfur to aid the current 7,000 African Union troops.  Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has refused the admittance of peacekeepers claiming it would violate Sudan's sovereignty. 

The Sudanese government and the African Union have reached a compromise which extends the union's mandate in Darfur through the end of 2006.  Yet, the African Union hoped to turn over peacekeeping control to the UN at the end of its mandate on September 30.  Although some security for the civilians is extended, human rights groups said the agreement was not enough to stop the suffering. 

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called an emergency meeting with nearly two dozen nations and international organizations on September 22, where she expressed that the violence is worsening in Darfur despite international pressure.  The UN has called Darfur the world's worst humanitarian disaster, and the United States has labeled the attacks genocide.  "The violence in Darfur is not subsiding, it is getting worse," Rice affirmed at the meeting.  "If the notion of our responsibility to protect the weakest and most powerless among us is ever to be more than an empty promise, then we must take action to save lives." 

A group of Darfur-born exiles, including Yahya Osman who is a Darfur native and member of the Darfur Rehabilitation Project, attended a press conference at Rice's Manhattan hotel and called her efforts a good first step.  Yet, the exiles criticized the United States, along with other world powers, for not taking action to stop the daily killings and rapes in Darfur's devastated villages. There has not been much action in Darfur due to the resistance from nations that argue that Sudan will respond best if it does not feel that its sovereignty or authority is being challenged.  If UN peacekeepers do not enter Darfur quickly then the international community risks the possible death of thousands more Darfur civilians and the escalation of instability of the entire sub-region of Central Africa.  Given the complex situation of Darfur, special envoy Natsios will certaintly run into difficulty in executing his task of further pressuring the Sudanese government to consent to UN peacekeepers. 

Jennifer Cvetkovski is a UNA-USA communications intern and a graduate student at the John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University.

taken from: http://www.unausa.org

Korean Minister Likely Candidate to Replace Kofi Annan, but will the General Assembly Approve? by Ayca Ariyoruk

On October 2, the United Nations Security Council voted 14 to 1 in an unofficial poll in support of South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon's bid to replace Kofi Annan. Annan's 10-year term as the UN Secretary-General expires on December 31, 2006. Ban's success is no surprise as he has come out on top in three previous polls.  An official vote, which is likely to take place October 9 in the Security Council, will finalize the nomination. The soft-spoken minister, so far, has enough support in the council—nine affirmative votes with no vetoes are required—to stand before the General Assembly, whose 192 members must approve the council's selection. 

While the assembly is likely to approve any name the Security Council nominates, council members still need to work to gain support for their choice and engage wider membership at the UN.  Ban himself should seek the blessing of the G-77 which represents 132 developing nations—the largest voting bloc in the General Assembly. 
 
According to the UN Charter, the General Assembly appoints the Secretary-General upon the recommendation of the Security Council. A simply majority in the General Assembly of those who are present and voting is sufficient to approve the appointment, unless the General Assembly decides that two-thirds majority is needed. With a single majority, the assembly (present and voting) can prolong the decision and request to call a two-thirds majority voting instead.
 
Based on an imprecise General Assembly resolution dating back to 1947, the Security Council to date has forwarded only one name before the General Assembly's floor. And to date, the General Assembly has approved all the nominations from the Security Council.
 
Today, however, the United Nations is a significantly different organization.
 
Having failed to secure representation in the Security Council, emerging powers, who have grown increasingly frustrated over their lack on input in running the world organization, are seeking to increase the power of the General Assembly. In 1997, as part of an overall effort to revitalize in an environment where the Security Council's reach was growing,  the General Assembly pledged to make full use of the power enshrined upon them in the Charter on the appointment of the secretary-general.
 
Earlier this year, in the midst of a heated debate over management reforms at the UN, unsuccessful attempts were made to modify the language of the 1947 resolution to request that the Security Council offer "more than one candidate," thus giving up its significant sway over the most important appointment at the UN. Maged Abdelaziz, Egypt's Ambassador and a hard line advocate for G-77 told the Associated Press that developing nations "feel not being consulted…we are just rubber stamps" to whatever is decided upon in the Security Council. "Even though [there] might be an excellent candidate, [he] might suffer in the struggle between the General Assembly and the Security Council on the issue… He might be voted down." Not all 132 developing nations feel same way and would be willing to risk a division in the organization. The idea also faced fierce criticism from the Security Council, in particular by a non-yielding American Ambassador John Bolton, whose uncompromising policies have provoked the resurrection of a cold war type division between the north and the south.
 
Yet the Security Council has a strong case to make. First, unlike the previous appointments, the president of the Security Council communicated with the president of the General Assembly keeping him in the loop of the council's next steps. Second, the candidates were officially encouraged to present their qualifications before the regional groups in the General Assembly.  Third, although far from perfect, a nomination process has been established reducing the possibility of an unknown candidate emerging at the last minute as a leading contender. Most importantly, the Security Council, which has infamously been divided in the past, exercising several vetoes over the candidates, managed, at an early stage to demonstrate unity behind a single candidate. Annan was only selected two weeks before he took office and was vetoed by France several times.
 
This is not to suggest that the process this year has improved beyond criticism. True, the candidates ran an open public campaign. Most laid out their vision for the organization, speaking before small and large public gatherings, and granting interviews to civil society groups.  In fact, if the General Assembly approves the nomination, Ban Ki-moon will be the first secretary-general in UN history to have run an open campaign and won. Despite the benefits of having a public element to the selection process, such as increased accountability, new problems emerged as the candidates jumped on planes to visit the capitals. Allegations of bribes in the form of foreign aid in exchange of support have surfaced. Candidates from poorer countries lost leverage, as their governments couldn't afford to sustain a high-cost campaign. The rigid nomination process and the practice of the so-called "regional rotation" based on poorly defined regional groups have discriminated against some candidates and significantly reduced the pool of qualified contenders. Politics of power triumphed as the members focused on Asian candidates, ignoring for the second time Eastern Europe's turn. The regional rotation concept shifted the focus away from the qualifications of the candidates to the political suitability of their nationalities. Moreover, the Security Council ran its straw polls in utmost secrecy, refusing to disclose any insight that led to their decision.  It is still unknown how and why the Security Council managed to secure an unprecedented wider agreement on one nomination. What criteria have they used? Have they traded any deals?
 
The process in which the UN chooses its top official is important and should be viewed as part of the larger efforts to reform the UN.   It carries significant weight in determining whether the next secretary-general will function effectively. Only a secretary-general that is selected through a fair, open and inclusive process can gain the trust of wider membership in an environment which is poisoned by mistrust and suspicion of alternative motives.  Gaining that trust is crucial for the next secretary-general to gather the flexibility and authority he will desperately need to carry the UN through a difficult reform process in the years ahead.  

At present, to avoid a probable division in the world organization, the Security Council should not wait for the final vote for the next secretary-general to engage the General Assembly. A communique from the president of the council to that of the assembly can go a long way. Support from the G-77 would also give Ban a stronger and a more legitimate mandate to carry on his duties once he is sworn in as the secretary-general.
 
Ms. Ariyoruk is senior associate of the United Nations Association of the USA's Global Policy Programs.
 taken from: http://www.unausa.org