Delivering Around the Clock Every day, around the clock, the United Nations and its family of agencies are working to improve people’s lives throughout the world. With little fanfare or media attention, the UN delivers everything from emergency relief to vaccinations to counter-terrorism training; it resolves conflicts and keeps the peace in the world’s most dangerous places; and it supports elections and new institutions that usher in democracy. These priorities are fundamentally American priorities. By working through the UN to share the burden, the U.S. gets real value for its money.
Promoting Peace and Democracy •
The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) has the second largest deployed military in the world with 14 peacekeeping missions and over 100,000 troops and personnel in places such as Sudan, Côte d’Ivoire, and Haiti. These troops prevent the outbreak of conflict, assist in implementing peace agreements, monitor ceasefires, and help nations transition to stable governments. In the last decade alone, UN peacekeepers have disarmed more than 400,000 ex-combatants.
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The UN Development Program (UNDP) and UN peacekeeping operations support, on average, one free and democratic election somewhere in the world every two weeks. In recent years, they have facilitated elections in South Sudan, Côte d’Ivoire, Haiti, Iraq, Nepal, Afghanistan, Burundi, Liberia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and East Timor, allowing over 80 million people to exercise their democratic rights.
Expanding the Reach of U.S. Counter-Terrorism Efforts •
Established in 2004 partly in response to the passage of nuclear secrets to North Korea, Libya and Iran by Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1540, which requires all member states to take steps to prevent weapons of mass destruction from getting into the hands of terrorists. Furthermore, at the direction of the Security Council, the UN’s Al-Qaida-Taliban Sanctions Committee freezes assets, bans travel, and imposes arms embargos on specific individuals and entities associated with Al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden, or the Taliban.
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In wake of the tragedy on September 11, 2001, the Security Council adopted Resolution 1373, which criminalizes terrorism-related activities, requires every country to freeze the financial assets of terrorists and their supporters, and forbids providing funding and safe havens to terrorists.
Curbs the Spread of Nuclear Weapons •
The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) implements international nuclear cooperation agreements and monitors nuclear safeguard agreements in more 5