Press Releases
United States Seeks Multilateral Diplomacy with World Community
By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer
24 March 2009
Washington — The perception that the United States has not been engaging the world community and has been pursuing foreign affairs unilaterally is erroneous, and even more so with the Obama administration, a senior U.S. diplomat says.
“The most important U.S. foreign policy goals and objectives, we’re not going to achieve by working alone, or simply working bilaterally with our friends,” says acting Assistant Secretary of State James Warlick. “The challenges are huge.”
In an interview with America.gov, Warlick, who heads the State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs, said the United States has taken some criticism in the past that it has acted alone, but that perception is not supported by the facts, he said.
Whether it is the crisis in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, Iran’s and North Korea’s attempts to create nuclear weapons, or atrocities being committed by a national leader, the United States actively seeks out partners and multilateral approaches to these and many other issues confronting nations today.
“We have to have that multilateral dimension to our diplomacy,” Warlick said. A veteran senior foreign service officer, Warlick has served in Europe, Southeast Asia and South Asia, as well as in assignments at the United Nations, NATO and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
“Take, for example, Sudan. If we’re going to be successful in preventing [casualties] and protecting civilian lives in Darfur, it’s going to be [through] working multilaterally,” he said.
“And it’s, in fact, the presence of U.N. and African Union peacekeepers as part of a larger strategy that does protect civilian lives,” Warlick said.
One of the key U.S. priorities for the Darfur region is the rapid deployment of the full complement of U.N. and African Union peacekeepers, he said.
Another situation where multilateral efforts are being used is with Iran, which has been attempting to develop a nuclear weapons program. Working with the U.N. Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United States has sought to convince the Iranian government to forgo a weapons development program through a series of political and economic incentives and assistance, he said.
Instrumental in that process has been what is known in diplomatic shorthand as “the P5+1 process,” which includes the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — and Germany. Warlick said the work will be done multilaterally, not bilaterally.
“Several resolutions in the U.N. Security Council have been passed, as well as work in the IAEA,” he said.
Warlick said the use of a multinational force of peacekeepers and police in Haiti is another example of nations working together to alleviate a crisis and help reconstruction efforts.
“All of these are truly multinational efforts,” he said.
U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
The United States is concerned with the direction of the U.N. Human Rights Council and many of the issues it is confronting, Warlick said.
“Some of the most egregious human rights violators around the world — whether it is North Korea, Sudan, Burma, or Zimbabwe or Cuba — have gotten off without any consideration in the Human Rights Council,” he said. “And that is cause for concern.”
At the same time, the United States recognizes it is necessary to have a multilateral dimension to its human rights efforts in the world. “We need to find a way of working with other countries to single out the egregious violators to draw attention to widespread problems, such as prisoners of conscience,” he said.
As a result, the United States is participating in the Human Rights Council in observer status, he said.
“We believe that our engagement as an observer in the council will help, not solve, the problems of the council, but will help the council address the kinds of problems it should be concerned with,” he said.
Warlick said the United States has not decided if it will stand for election to the council in May.
Justice must be served in Sudan, and now that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has been indicted and served with a warrant by the International Criminal Court, “we believe that he should be brought to justice,” Warlick said.
The tragedy in Sudan is compounded by Bashir’s decision to expel 13 nongovernmental organizations that have been working in the Darfur region to bring food, fresh water, medical assistance and other aid to more than 4.7 million people.
The Obama administration is reviewing U.S. policy on membership in the court, he said.
SECURITY COUNCIL EXPANSION
Warlick said the United States wants the U.N. Security Council to reflect the realities of the 21st century and the 21st-century United Nations. “We believe that it has a fundamental role to play in the protection of international peace and security,” he said.
In order to expand the Security Council to reflect current realities, it is also imperative the council continue to be effective in carrying out its mission, he said. Expansion for the sake of expansion may undermine the overall effectiveness of the council’s decisionmaking capacity, he said.