United Nations Reform Status
Hyde Schedules Thursday Oversight Hearing with Ambassador Bolton 

BACKGROUND:  Plagued by an avalanche of scandals that have swirled around UN management, the Oil-for-Food Program, procurement and UN peacekeeping operations worldwide, 150 world leaders gathered in New York in September of last year to approve a comprehensive reform plan. Designed to address a host of issues including development goals, terrorism, peacekeeping, human rights, disarmament and nonproliferation, in addition to UN management and structures, the efforts have been denounced by some as an agreement which sank to the lowest common denominator needed for approval by 191 countries that belong to the United Nations. That observation was reinforced by serious weaknesses in the structure of the new Human Rights Council which is expected to be approved today by the U.N. General Assembly. Following the September reform summit Secretary-General  Kofi Annan on March 7^th issued his own reform recommendations report, Investing in the United Nations: for a Stronger Organization Worldwide. Spurred on by the UN's serious structural and management failures, the House of Representatives in June of 2005 approved the Henry J. Hyde United Nations Reform Act of 2005 which establishes a timetable for 46 specific reforms using U.S. dues payments as leverage for change.  

WHAT:                             Full Committee Oversight Hearing: 
                                          Status of Reform and Fraud Investigations at the United Nations
                                          U.S. Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-IL), Chairman

WHEN:                             10:30 a.m., Thursday, March 16, 2006

WHERE:                           2172 Rayburn House Office Building

WITNESS:                        The Honorable John R. Bolton,
                                           United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations,
                                           U.S. Department of State