Reply #9: Higl-level US Group To Monitor UN Work

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High-level US group to monitor UN work

2 hours, 36 minutes ago Politics - AFP



WASHINGTON (AFP) - Two influential former congressional leaders were named to lead a new Washington group to study the UN's effectiveness and reform efforts.



Newt Gingrich, the Republican former speaker of the House of Representatives, and George Mitchell, former Democrat Senate leader, will lead the task force on UN reform created by the US Institute of Peace, a government organization dedicated to studying international conflict.


The task force will also include a number of business executives, retired diplomats and former military leaders, including General Wesley Clark (news - web sites), the former NATO (news - web sites) commander who ran for the Democratic Party nomination for president in 2004.


The task force is mandated to monitor "the extent to which the United Nations (news - web sites) is fullfilling the goals of its Charter and offer recommendations for US action" to the US Congress, according to a USIP statement.


The task force will address five areas of UN work: its role in conflict resolution and building stable societies; its ability to deal with genocide and human rights violations; its role in preventing terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; the UN's internal integrity, transparency and accountability; and its role in poverty reduction and economic development.


The task force will work together with a group of well-known US think tanks, including the Brookings Institution, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Hoover Institution.


They plan to present their report to Congress in June.