Sam Farr: “the U.N. soon to celerate its 60th anniversary, is chartered to promote universal human rights, justice and social…”

“the U.N. soon to celerate its 60th anniversary, is chartered to promote universal human rights, justice and social progress. These are perfect ideals that the global community must strive to put into action, but that does not mean the U.N. is a perfect organization. Recent scandals and the lack of transparency within the U.N. undermine the essential role the U.N. plays in world affairs. Reform is an urgent priority but the cure for fixing these problems should not be worse than the disease. H.R. 2745 will hamstring the U.S.'s ability to create positive reform within the U.N., tarnish the image of the U.S. abroad when public opinion of the U.S., particularly in the Arab countries where is at an all time low, and defeat the Administration's public diplomacy efforts before Karen Hughes even assumes her new responsibilities in September. Additionally, H.R. 2745 would halt funding for any new or expanded peacekeeping missions. Unilaterally preventing the U.S. from supporting new peacekeeping missions puts an untold number of lives at risk and additionally, could endanger U.S. national security interests. In fact many of the peacekeeping reforms contained in the Hyde bill are endorsed by the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and in most cases are already underway, to address recent concerns raised about sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping missions. Moreover, H.R. 2745 does not enjoy the full support of the administration. According to R.…”