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U.S. Consul for Public Affairs David Bustamante being interviewed for television coverage.
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The Aula Magna at Bocconi University.
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Consul for Public Affairs David Bustamante explains U.S. policy to students at the Milan Model United Nations.
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t is my pleasure to represent the United States Consul General in Milan, A. Daniel Weygandt, in delivering this opening address to the 10th Liceo Manzoni – Bocconi University Model United Nations. The Consul General had planned to deliver this speech, but his presence was required elsewhere this morning. While I know he would have wished to be here today, I am delighted to be able to speak with you.
As some of you may know, I am not new to the idea of Model United Nations events, or to the event at which we are all present today. For four years, I have been working with the Liceo Manzoni team that represents the United States, in my capacity as Consulate spokesperson, to prepare them to represent the views of my country. I addressed this group two years ago, and brought Ambassador Vasquez here last year to speak with you. My son has been both an Ambassador and a Committee Chair at the Dublin MUN, granting me a real appreciation for the amount of study required to properly draft and lobby for the approval of your resolutions. This is excellent training for you, whether you end up working in business, diplomacy, or just end up trying to negotiate married life.
The United Nations will soon celebrate its 63rd anniversary. It is a large and complex organization whose responsibilities grow every day. A quick look at the front page of the UN's website confirms the complexity of the UN agenda, which includes responsibility for:
- Keeping the peace
- Stopping trafficking in persons
- Strengthening civil society
- Safeguarding the rights of women and children
- Protecting human rights
- Assuring good governance
- Providing universal access to quality health care
- Distributing humanitarian relief
- Enforcing the law of the sea
- Feeding, protecting and repatriating refugees
- Fomenting economic growth via research and development
- Fighting terrorism
- Fighting intolerance
- Supporting respect for ethnic, religious and national diversity
- Fighting HIV/AIDS
- Stopping the trade in illegal drugs
- Supporting democracy
- Assuring universal market access
- Respecting intellectual property rights
- Coordinating action on the environment and climate change
The UN spends around 15 billion dollars a year to make progress in this complex set of tasks. I am proud to say that the United States remains the UN's largest contributor, paying 22% of the UN's growing regular budget, and about 27% of its peacekeeping costs. On top of that, we give generously to support the work of specialized UN agencies providing humanitarian relief, electoral assistance, food aid, and more. Our close cooperation with the UN, and our economic support for it, highlight the degree to which we recognize its importance in meeting our own foreign policy goals, and in making the world a better place.
America at the UN: Acting Multilaterally
For the United States, the United Nations remains central to meeting our foreign affairs goals. Our shared objectives worldwide include the preservation of peace, the promotion of democracy and freedom, the protection of the innocent, and the advancement of economic and sustainable development. These goals were established in the Cold War, when the United Nations got its start – in San Francisco, in my beloved home state of California, by the way. They require little updating today, except to add that the war we fight today is against terrorism, HIV/AIDS, and human traffickers and organized criminals who continue to find new ways to take advantage of those least capable of defending themselves. While it is hard to foresee the challenges your generation will face as adults, I am confident that you will brilliantly adapt to meet those issues as they arise.
While we will deal with security issues unilaterally as a last resort, we continue to prefer to deal with these crises in multilateral fora, as you have seen in response to Iran's threat of nuclear terrorism, in our efforts to bring North Korea into the brotherhood of nations, and in our law enforcement cooperation to defeat international terrorism.
In this age of new problems and partnerships, you might ask when we choose to work an issue via multilateral organizations, and when we deal with issues bilaterally. After all, it is easier to come to an agreement with one other country than it is for us to come to an agreement with 191 individual countries, given each nation's different national interests and perceptions. Yet we often find multilateral cooperation to be the best way to deal with an issue. There are four key moments in which the nations of the world come together to respond multilaterally.
- First, global threats and global crises often need global solutions. Terrorism, nuclear non-proliferation, HIV/AIDS, environmental disasters, narcotics trafficking – these threats know no borders. Multilateral and regional agreements are the most effective way to protect people from them.
- Second, the best platforms for advancing our values of freedom, democracy, and prosperity are usually, in fact, the broadest ones. As President Bush has said, freedom and democracy are the birthright of everyone. We believe that freedom, democracy, and security are mutually reinforcing. With many people still oppressed by tyrants, with many people lacking basic human rights and suffering from extreme poverty, we need fora where we can make the case for freedom, democracy and human rights to the non-democracies of the world. In any number of international bodies, we are doing just that.
- Third, multilateral organizations can be the most efficient way to set international standards. There are international standards for behavior, measurement, and also for meeting civil needs. Groups like the International Maritime Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization, both under the UN umbrella, are pivotal in getting all the nations to set international norms for safety and security, so that we can travel the world's seas and skies more safely.
- Fourth, multilateral organizations are effective ways to leverage our resources for the greatest good. No country, not even the United States, has the resources to do all things for all people. In these challenging times, individual governments must focus primarily on national and regional issues. The most cost effective way of being responsible stewards on universal issues is to respond jointly with the largest possible coalition of like-minded nations.
We were instrumental in creating the United Nations 62 years ago, proudly serve as the home of the United Nations headquarters, and remain committed to the UN's future.
Our Current Foreign Affairs Focus
Given our international leadership, the US plays an integral role in discussions on nearly all the issues currently affecting the international community. From the Global War on Terror, to nuclear issues in Iran and North Korea, to climate change, free trade, trafficking in persons and child labor, the United States is everywhere present and engaged.
War on Terror
The War on Terror that seized Americàs attention in September 2001 is really part of a war that Europe has been fighting since the 1970's. The only new element is fundamentalist religious intolerance. Although in the wake of the bombing of the Twin Tower and the Pentagon, the world understood the need to remove a Taliban regime in Afghanistan that was hosting Al Qaeda terrorists, there has been disagreement about U.S. actions in Iraq. In Afghanistan, though, NATO, with the support of the United Nations, has been stitching back together a nation that was brutally misgoverned, and fought off efforts by the Taliban to influence the country's post-war development. In Iraq, after five difficult years, President Bush noted last week (04/02/08) that “Compared to a year ago, violence is significantly down, civilian deaths are down, sectarian killings are down, and attacks on coalition forces are down … With security improving, local citizens have restarted the political process in their neighborhoods and their cities and provinces – and leaders in Baghdad are beginning to make the tough compromises necessary to get important pieces of legislation passed.” Although in Iraq, as General Petraeus said to Congress this week, “innumerable challenges remain”, we have been investing lives and infrastructure with the hope of making Iraq the modern, democratic linchpin of the Middle East, a nation that will be a good neighbor and have a positive effect on its neighbors.
Iran
The U.S. is proud to be working with our European Partners and the International Atomic Energy Agency to reverse Iran’s nuclear enrichment operations, which are in direct noncompliance with its UN Security Council obligation to fully and verifiably suspend all enrichment-related work.
In the Middle East, a divided and contested area of the world, every effort to create a lasting peace brings benefits to all the region’s inhabitants. Although Iran says that it is creating a nuclear energy industry, this is illogical in a country with the fifth largest oil reserves in the world, with considerable hydroelectric potential in its mountainous northwest, and which is home to the Dasht-e-Kavir, a desert measuring over 77,000 square kilometers that could become one of the world’s great producers of solar and wind power. As was made clear by the announcement earlier this week that Iran is bringing on line 6000 new centrifuges for uranium enrichment, we fear that Iran is actually working to unite its impressive missile technology with nuclear warheads. This would be one of the most destabilizing acts imaginable in the volatile Middle East, and would almost certainly lead to a nuclear arms race among the Sunni nations that would perceive a threat from a nuclear Shia Iran.
Working with the United Nations Security Council and our European allies, we are sending a strong message to Iran that failure to comply with international security policies will not be tolerated. On March 3rd, the UN Security Council passed its fourth resolution placing legally binding sanctions on Iran. By speaking out strongly against Iran’s behavior, and assuring that there is adequate compliance with these Security Council resolutions, the US is working multilaterally to contain this widely recognized threat.
North Korea
In addition to paying close attention to Iran’s nuclear program, the US has also been playing a key role in the monitoring of nuclear activity in North Korea. The US began talks with North Korea in 1993, and in 1994 came to a diplomatic agreement for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Obviously, the arrangement did not go quite as planned and we are still negotiating with North Korea on these issues, but recently we have seen sustained progress on this issue. North Korea shut down and sealed the Yongbyon reactor in July 2007. The IAEA returned to North Korea to conduct monitoring and verification activities. The United States and North Korea participated in meetings of a bilateral working group aimed at the eventual normalization of relations. Japan and North Korea have started a similar process. The Parties have all participated in the working groups established by the January 2007 Six Party Agreement. The United States, South Korea, China and Russia have begun providing North Korea with 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil and equivalent materials and equipment as outlined in the agreement.
In short, North Korea is emerging from its diplomatic and commercial isolation and providing a full accounting of its nuclear assets with an eye to dismantling them. We believe that, as this process proceeds, for the first time in a half century, North Korea will rejoin the international brotherhood of nations as a responsible partner and neighbor.
Climate Change
I bet you haven’t heard a lot about it, but the US is also deeply involved in efforts to address climate change. Although we are often criticized for not having signed the Kyoto Protocol, the U.S. has remained a key player in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the umbrella organization behind Kyoto and the upcoming Bali Agreement. The United States has three primary climate change goals:
- To introduce new technologies for producing and using energy that can dramatically weaken the link between economic growth and the generation of greenhouse gases.
- To improve the scientific tools and understanding needed to respond more effectively to the problems posed by climate change.
- To join together with other nations to address the entire spectrum of climate change issues.
During the last seven years, the United States has appropriated over $7 billion to support research into advanced energy technologies that we are sharing with the world. From 2000-2005, the population of the United States grew by 5 percent (14 million people) and GDP grew by 12 percent (about $1.2 trillion) while our greenhouse gas emissions increased by only 1.6 percent. Latest estimates show that from 2005-2006, our economy grew 2.9 percent, but our energy-related carbon dioxide emissions decreased 1.3 percent. This compares favorably to many countries that have cap and trade programs. So without having signed the Kyoto Protocol, we are doing at least as well as the nations that did. And we look to be active partners in the Bali Process.
As we look to the future, the United States has dedicated itself to meet ambitious climate change goals. We plan to reduce greenhouse gas intensity by 18% through the year 2012. We also expect to reduce gasoline usage by 20% over the next ten years, in part via increased fuel mileage standards on all cars and light trucks and tax incentives to citizens who purchase fuel efficient vehicles. We look forward to working with allies around the world to arrive at a post-Kyoto agreement that will reverse climate change.
Corporate Social Responsibility
I know that you will be dealing with issues of corporate social responsibility in this MUN, and would like you to know that we hold U.S. corporations to standards higher than those of national or regional companies in many other countries. While it is often perceived that multinational corporations are not responsible social actors around the world, throughout my diplomatic career, I have observed the opposite. What I have seen on countless occasions is that small and local firms have caused tremendous pollution problems, have underpaid employees, and generally been bad citizens. Because of the worldwide scrutiny to which multinationals are subjected, any mistake they make anywhere around the globe damages their reputations everywhere, and makes them less viable. In my experience, these companies are generally models in the third world for labor pay, worker safety, and environmental compliance. This is in part because they are also subject to regulation in the United States for their involvement outside the United States. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 establishes new and enhanced standards for all U.S. public company boards, management, and public accounting firms and requires these firms to provide greatly enhanced reporting on their domestic and overseas activities. It especially establishes standards for independent public accounting of company activities.
Free Trade
I know that some of you may wonder about the benefits of free trade. Doesn’t this aspect of globalization result in the continued poverty of peripheral regions of the world and the continued enrichment of the center? My answer is that free trade, which the U.S. has taken a lead in promoting, enriches everyone who participates in it. As I mentioned with regard to multinationals, free trade establishes internationally acceptable practices for companies. It also establishes global norms for products and services. Free trade requires producers to create goods with a level of efficiency that is competitive with similar firms in the same sector around the world. Finally, success in trade requires good government – government that establishes clear and predictable laws under which all business must operate, and universally enforces those laws. Simply put, the countries that trade the most do the best, and opening world markets to free trade is one of the principal ways out of poverty for developing nations.
Trafficking in Persons/Child Labor
Unfortunately, around the world there are many places where good governance doesn’t exist. In places where the government does not respond to the needs of the people, banned practices like child labor and trafficking in persons flourish. The United Nations has been a close and capable interlocutor for dealing with these issues, so we have complemented our bilateral work in these areas with multilateral work.
Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receipt of people for the purpose of exploitation. It is estimated to be a $5 to $9 billion-a-year industry. Trafficking victims typically are recruited using coercion, deception, fraud, the abuse of power, or outright abduction. Subjected to threats, violence, and economic control, victims may consent to exploitation.
The US has set up a government office fully devoted to monitoring and intervening where we see trafficking in persons.
This office within the Department of State funds 63 projects in 43 countries totaling approximately $13.55 million, six regional projects totaling $1.1 million, four global projects totaling roughly $1.3 million, and four research projects totaling about $500,000. These projects aim to share information on trafficking patterns and agents, and assist governments to set up strategies to combat trafficking.
According to the International Labor Organization, an estimated 218 million children aged 5 to 17 are involved in child labor worldwide, excluding child domestic labor. Illegal child labor most often includes the use of children as soldiers, child prostitutes, and agricultural workers.
The U.S. has strong laws to combat child labor, including the Tariff Act of 1930, which forbids the importation of goods made with forced or indentured labor. In 2000, this act was amended to ensure that the statute also applied to goods made with forced or indentured child labor. We are the largest donor to the International Labor Organization's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor. Since 1995, the United States has provided approximately $255 million for technical assistance projects.
In Conclusion
So, as one of the world’s only global actors, the United States is decisively engaged in these key areas, and is also a protagonist in a host of other issues including HIV/AIDs treatment, poverty relief, land mine removal, and minority rights. Although it may be fashionable to criticize the United States for our international involvement, and although each of you almost certainly disagrees with some aspect of U.S. policy, I would like to reassure you that our motivation is noble, and that our goal is to create a free and democratic world in which we all cooperate and progress.
When I spoke to this group two years ago, I closed by saying that my generation is passing the mantle of leadership to your generation, hoping sincerely that the problems we have been unable to resolve will be peaceably decided under your leadership. This is even more true today. I will retire from the U.S. Foreign Service on September 3, 2008, and return to my beloved California. But in my four years in Milan, I have had the privilege of meeting with and learning from many of you, and I am firmly convinced that, as hundreds of thousands of young Americans are proving by their passionate involvement in our upcoming presidential elections, you also are insistent upon making a difference in your world. While some of you may make your mark in your communities, and some of you may even become the President of your country – and not just ambassador for a weekend – I fully expect to see some of you in this room today working for the United Nations and making a career of tackling the same global issues you will struggle with this weekend. So give this Model United Nations your full and unreserved effort, and you will be able to leave Bocconi University proud of your contribution. This is training for real life, and no matter where you decide to make your mark, approach everything you do with candor, passion and focus. Study the issues in depth. As is the case with the United States, not everything is as it seems, and nothing is as easy as the politicians say it is. But through perseverance and hard work, I am confident that you will, in fact, change the world. And I hope that as you watch reports on our elections on your evening news, you will see that, among the young people of my country, there are others like you who deeply desire to join you in this endeavor.
In closing, I would like to thank the team of administrators, teachers and students from Liceo Manzoni who have organized this event, educational authorities from the city of Milan, and our hosts from Milan’s world famous Bocconi University, for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today. I thank you for your attention, and I wish you success in this Model United Nations.
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