Transcripts For CSPAN United Nations And Foreign Operations Funding 20140405

The youngsters want to deploy. We are just working our way through all through what all this means. Part i feel good about. I cant tell you what it means to have smiles on their faces. Theres not a lot to keep me awake at night. That is a good place to end this conversation. Here and listening online will probably sleep a little better tonight as well. Having listened to you, i cant. Magine a better shepherd let me thank you for your service and leadership but also to the men and women of the marine corps. Thank you very much. On the next washington using algorithms and ultra highspeed networks to execute trades. And saturdays elections in afghanistan. We will take your calls and you can join the conversation via facebook and twitter. Live at 7 journal, a. M. Eastern on cspan. Lets take a case like hsbc, which got a 1. 9 billion settlement levied at them. Part of the deferred prosecution theyment they admitted had laundered as much as 850 million for a pair of central and south American Drug our tells. Minorly did they commit financial infractions, technical infractions, we are talking about an organization that was operating at the top of the narcotics pyramid. Evidenceidnt fund the to put those people in jail, that is on them. The is a failure of regulatory system. If you have somebody you know is league withare in truly dangerous and violent , it is the worst kinds of behavior he can be involved when. It is even more outrageous when you look at it in comparison with who does go to jail in america. That is people at the very bottom of the legal drug pyramid. People who are caught in possession of drugs and selling dime bags. They go to jail for realtime. Off. Were letting hsbc nobody pays any individual penalty. The divide, exploring injustices in america, sunday night at eight. The Associated Press reports that the eu will continue to work with russia and ukraine to reduce tensions between the two but will keep further sanctions as an option. Samantha powers testified about russias and convention in andine and the on top the ongoing talks with syria. This hearing is an hour and 45 minutes. Thank you for being with your with us here today. The appropriations goes up significantly by more than 25 . We need to hear why this is been justified, especially in light of the fiscal challenges we face here at home. In the short time you have been an abbasid are at the u. N. The many more impatient many more important issues have, before you. The iea in particular to an Important Role to play make sure iran follows through in its commitments and keeping up the pressure as the final deal is negotiated. In syria the u. N. s role is critical, both in the laminating the chemical stockpile and getting humanitarian aid to people in dire need. General assembly adopted a resolution that confirms its commitment to ukraines sovereignty. The u. N. Has not been able to send a more powerful message because of russias of the toe in the Security Council. On the Palestinian Peace process just yesterday, resident announced the palestinians intend to be a party to 15 international conventions. This could jeopardize the Peace Process and possibly u. S. Assistance. The ramifications are unclear. The Administration Must send a clear message to the palestinians that the only path to statehood is through and the notion through a negotiated agreement with israel. I hope youll update the subcommittee on these other policy challenges that you face. There are a few other issues i want to mention. The first is a u. N. Reform. During her confirmation hearing you said you would aggressively pursue efforts to eliminate waste, improve accounting, strengthen whistleblower protections, and end and a tolerance for corruption. I would like to know what processes you have made in this area what progress you have made in this area. Fiscal year 2014 appropriations bill strengthens the transparency and accountability requirements. After all of these years theyre simply no excuse for the unit not to make commonsense changes. The other issue is the significant fiscal year 2015 budget, proposed to the u. N. And its agencies. Learned thettee has u. S. Intends to vote for a u. S. Keep u. S. Peacekeeping americann the central republic. There is a need to protect civilians and ease their suffering. The cost of such a mission would be significant and the subcommittee would need to know what you plan to reduce the offset of the commitment offset the commitment. United states is by far the largest contributor to the u. N. Organization and peacekeeping activities. More work needs to be done to make sure the u. N. Is facing serious tradeoff and is getting its budget under control. You and the u. S. Delegation to the u. N. And new york. And around the world for the work you do to promote our National Interest. The rankingover to member for her remarks. I join chairwoman granger in joining you to in welcoming you today. Palestinian president applied for recognition for 15 u. N. Conventions and treaties as reckless efforts. Signals to break down the Peace Process in the farreaching repercussions on the United States relationship with the u. N. And specialized agencies. We willbassador, i hope begin our remarks by discussing the administrations response to this news. Distressing because the United Nations placed an integral and indispensable role plays an integral and indispensable role in National Security, alleviating hunger, championing human rights, and supporting efforts to address humanitarian prices. Since the u. S. Is not willing to act by members of the Security Council as unacceptable in the face of Haunting Images of victims of chemical weapons, gross violations of human rights, millions of refugees and other tragic and eminently avoidable suffering. While the u. N. Is far from perfect, neglecting to refuse to pay our commitment leave the United States in a position of weakness. Problems in remote areas across borders at alarming rates. We need to leverage the strength of this coalition of nations to prevent emerging threats from reaching us here at home and to ensure the u. N. Remains accountable and effective. Nuclear proliferation, terrorism, Drug Trafficking come infectious disease, extreme poverty and suffering, environmental degradation, confront the entire World Community. No one nation should address them alone. Burden sharing remains the most cost efficient use of our tax dollars. For all these reasons the u. S. Must pay its bills in full and , a responsibility for both republicans and democratic administrations have consistently upheld. In an increasingly globalized world the u. N. Continues to serve as a critically important tool for advancing u. S. Interest and augmenting our own response to Many International challenges. For example the un Security Council imposed tough sanctions against iran, which played a Critical Role in bringing about an interim deal. Iaea is verifying that iran is fully implementing the agreements requirements. Given i rans history of deception, i would like to hear an update from you in the iaeas mission and your assessment of irans compliance thus far. They indicate that 50 of the chemical weapons have now been removed. The syrians missed the march 15 deadline. What time frame can we know expect for their entire programs disposal. Please update us on the u. N. The possibility to the liver humanitarian aid, what options do we have should assad continued to defy un security and reach hundreds of thousands of innocent syrians in need. Given the recent crisis over crimea i am particularly worried that russian president putin will never be a partner in ending this horrific war. What can we do about russias everincreasing i look forward to hearing from you. Andthe president s budget budget request will enhance the United Nations paid i hope you will highlight the successes as well as overcoming the many challenges ahead of us. Thank you. Please proceed with your opening remarks. I would strongly encourage you to summarize your remarks so we can leave time for questions for written statements. Thank you so much. Thank you for the information to testify. I am delighted with delighted to have the chance to talk with you about the present challenges you have alluded to. Confirmation hearing i pledged to work vigorously for a advancet would americas stake in global stability, operate with greater efficiencies, eliminate antiisraeli bias, and contribute to universal human rights. My full statement outlines the steps we have taken in each of these areas. To honor your time i will confine my remarks to five points. Stronglyectfully but urge you to support full funding for the administrations reese quests that administrations request for the iom p accounts. Of you both have alluded to this that your consideration of the fy 15 budget comes at a time when both the administration and congress are committed to fiscal restraint. I am acutely mindful of the difficult budget climate we are in. Theparticularly extraordinary sacrifices made by the american taxpayers everyday. You are making difficult choices about what to fund and what to cut. Of the United Nations and our Financial Support must receive a rigorous scrutiny. Need forng the restraint in spending but also conscious of the ready of the very real value these resources provide, we ask for your support because the u. N. And other International Organizations enable our country to address problems throughout the world at a cost and risk far lower than if we had acted on her own. We are the leading power and primary architect of the International System, which continues to benefit the United States and American People. Of our citizens will do better and be safer in a world where are observed, suffering is alleviated, and our wellbeing is contained. United nations is an indispensable partner in all of this. I will go into greater detail on the specific funding request. The state department and u. S. Mission will continue to press hard in much of the same way you have. I personally presented the case for financial discipline to the committee that handles the organizations regular budget. Stateseased the united has kept budgets near zero real growth since the 20 since the 2011 biennium. Much more needs to be done and much more can be done. Of with your support well continue our work to make the u. N. More effective, efficient, transparent, and accountable. We are fighting every day on numerous fronts to end the bias against israel that has long pervaded the u. S. System. Full memberecome a of two groups from which they have long been excluded. The western european and others group in geneva and what is called the human rights caucus in new york. These groups the United States and israel tried for years to break down the barriers that were blocking the entry into both groupings. Would seem less consequential if they were not so on justifiably delayed. We are chipping away at obstacles and biases. This sends a powerful message for those striving to isolate deals in the jewish state. Those messages are you will not succeed. United states will defend israel and we will challenge every instance of unfair treatment throughout the system. The United States but me add given reports yesterday of new palestinian actions that both of you have referenced that this solemn commitment extends to our Firm Opposition to any and all unilateral actions in the arena, Palestinian Statehood that circumvent or prejudge the outcomes that can only come about with a negotiated settlement. By may i would like to come back to this troubling issue. I asked the full support for unps operations from haiti to lebanon to subsaharan africa. Our country has a deep and abiding interest in restoring stability, mitigating conflict, and combating terrorism. Multilateral peace operations allow people to do so in such countries as sedan, molly, as well as transitioning countries. Since the president submitted his budget on march 4, open to a sharply deteriorating security , ban security environment kimoon has recommended rapid appointment of the new u. N. Mission. The Central African public argue that a peacekeeping mission is in fact required because of the acute security needs and highlights the value of a peacekeeping response mechanism to be able to deal with contingencies arising outside of the regular budget cycle. At the same time the real world is presenting catastrophic humanitarian emergencies like this one to which it is in the u. N. National interest to respond. We are rigorously reviewing all missions and urging the u. N. To do so as well. When host governments have the capability and must find the will to manage their own affairs particularly after the deployments by the United Nations. In our view peacekeeping activities are often essential that they need not be internal. Striving tore mobilize the u. N. As a vehicle for the promotion of Human Dignity and human rights in a form in which the United States and others can continue to stand up. With the strong backing of many in congress, we have exposed russian duplicity in the ukraine , fought back against the global crackdown of civil society, provided a platform for the victims of oppression in north korea, cuba, iran, syria, venezuela, and elsewhere, and pursue such vital objectives as to education,ss support for religious liberty, and the defeat of age i. E. Of hiv aids. American leaders have found it in our interest to participate actively in the United Nations and other International Organizations. In this era of seemingly nonstop turbulence, threats, and border shrinking technologies, we can accrue significant benefit from an institution that seeks every day to prevent conflict, promote the promotes development, and protect human rights. I urge your favorable consideration of our 2015 budget request. Considered both an enormous honor and great responsibility to sit behind americas packard at the u. N. A big part of that privilege and responsibility is the chance to work closely with you as the guardians of americas purse and presented his of the American People to ensure that our National Interests are well served. I will be pleased to answer any questions you have. Thank you for that. We both came in with what we asked first. The provisions of the u. S. Law says thatict funding the u. N. And its agencies outside of an agreement with israel as i said it is unclear the ramifications because of what they have done. Please give us your interpretation of what happened and why it happened and explain the Peace Process on the palestinians actions. Anyill trigger a cut off to u. S. Agency or economic agency. Thank you for that question. Of we are all completely seized with this issue could i heard secretary kerry speak to it already. The United States opposes , including where i work every day at the United Nations. There are no shortcuts and we have made that clear. It is only going to be counterproductive to the Peace Process. We have contested every effort prior to the negotiations spearheaded by secretary kerry. Every time the palestinians chose to make a treaty on we have posted. On thehis apparent move number of treaties, secretary kerry and all of us have made clear that we oppose unilateral actions and that air will be they will determine thusly distracted. That is the first point in keeping with our traditional position. In terms of its impact on the Peace Process, i think what secretary kerry has said this is a very fluid situation. As we speak. He certainly was working all day yesterday. Of it is premature to make a. Inal judgment as you mentioned, the pursued ans have. Reaty membership i that could continue to work in the days ahead created ahead. The question on the u. N. Waiver, as you know the United States has pursued a National Interest waiver, not withstanding strong and relentless opposition to of status andorts statehood. Is reason we saw this waiver that in the event the palestinians seek and obtain , thership in u. N. Agencies last thing we want to do is give them a double win. It would be a double win to secure a win as an agency on the one hand and the exclusion of the United States from the very agency, leaving the agency at the mercy of leadership russia, china, cuba, venezuela. Our goal is to use the u. N. System to advance the interest of the United States and the American People, being excluded from those agencies does not allow us to do that. We can go agency by agency if you would like. If you are as familiar with these organizations as i am, vaccination for children, the postal system, this is the International System and it is strongly in the u. S. National interest to be a part of it. That in no way detracts from the firmness of our opposition to palestinian unilateral moves. Thank you. As is a very active subcommittee. There will be many questions. If we can stick to the timeline i think we can make more than one round of questions. Thank you, madam chair. To anothero move issue but i wanted to associate myself with the comments of the chair. As one who has been very optimistic about the potential stronglynd has supported secretary kerrys efforts and determination to bring the parties together, it will be extremely disappointing that the one chose not to take actions. Does not move closer to any final resolution. Difficult s very very disappointing. I wanted to move on to another issue. Wonder whether secretary kerry can save the process in light of this action. Move onto iran a moment. Understand that iran faces international isolation. While i believe the pressure of sanctions and the demand for a better economy pushed the Supreme Leader to allow for the election of president rabbani, i am not convinced it is going to change his heart. I am very concerned about that and the overall uranian leadership. I remain concerned that the election of rouhani and his subsequent charm is nothing more than a political maneuver or facade intended to break the unity of International Sanctions by making iran appear to be cool operative. We have every reason to believe and to question irans real intentions given the track record and history of deception. Many people have argued in the congress that the threat of additional sanctions is necessary to pressure iran to stave the negotiating table until we have an acceptable final deal. If we can share with us our i will on that, maybe just movies because youre keeping the time pretty tight and then you can respond anyway you choose. The Security Council if no deal is better than a bad deal. I wonder what you would consider a bad deal. One of my concerns, the preamble to the land joint of action states that under no circumstances will iran ever develop any nuclear weapons. Have been very distressed to learn that the iaea cannot gain which has been rumored as a facility where they to weaponize nation testing. You can comment on the whole deal, and you can speak to why the gpl weight does not allow wereto inspect the sites delivering mechanisms were made, it seems to me such sites are an integral part of nuclear capability. If you can just comment in general, i would be most appreciated of, and specific on the issue. Thank you, congresswoman. The beaches to make a few comments. We share your skepticism. Trust. E your lack of theres no way the u. S. Can look at the relationship over the course of the last decade and bring anything but great skepticism and a lack of trust. That is the mindset that our diplomats have brought at every turn to our engagements with iran. Beennk president obama has clear that in the event that these talks break down and iran in this agreement does not provide a foundation for longterm agreement, that we believe will shut down Irans Nuclear weapons program. As he put it he will be leading the charge for additional sanctions in order to impose further pressure on the regime. If right now we are seeking to. Ake advantage under the window talks are opening again and believe next week we are undersecretary sherman it is other it is underway. Another has been a difference of opinion the six to seven billion dollars can be replaced in another section. You and i know in the Administration Knows that any additional sanctions can take 180 days to put them into place. I just want to add that for the record. To underscore underscore the overwhelming majority of sanctions remains in place and the iranian economy is still in the vice of sanctions put in place, not only here by the congress and by the these fourut also rounds of multilateral sanctions that have come through the Security Council. That International Sanctions regime has been a critical complement and force multiplier of what we have done ourselves here in the United States. You ask what the un Security Council will be. Reason we keep the together, on the backend of a comprehensive agreement at some later stage when all of our conditions are met or in the event of a collapse of talks then in a position to act as a Security Council. Because of all the focus on the have not only the multilateral sections regime in new york, the panel of experts, we are engaging testing this diplomatic window, seeking to end this prices this crisis diplomatically. We are seeking to close any loopholes that exist in this multilateral sanctions regime. Because israel just entered a ship that was carrying weapons from iran to militants in gaza. That is something we not demand that the sanctions committee to men sanctions committee take up in new york. The bilateral sanctions that United States the nations and individual york arehave we new looking to take further action on the basis of a very crippling regime that exists. I am well over time so if i could just speak to the parchment issue and the parchan issue. This is the formula that is used by the iaea and iran in addressing possible military dimensions which is of course why youre so concerned about parchan and that includes parchan. Parchan. What the gpoa says is a comprehensive solution requires not just the final step but also resolution of concerns which is understood, again, to hit the military dimension. So the more plain english to put it is the interim, the gpoa, addressed some subset of issues. We only offered very, very modest reversible and temporary sanctions relief in return. Parchan is exactly the kind of issue thats on the table now in terms of the longer term negotiations. Thank you, madam chair. Ill call on members now alternating between majority and minority based on arrival time, as weve done before. I want to remind members that you have five minutes for your question and the response so today, when you have two minutes remaining, it will go into a yellow light. And, again, well have i think this will allow us to have multiple rounds. Well call first on mr. Diazbalart. Thank you very much, madam chairwoman. Ambassador, thanks for being here. I would be remiss without first thanking you. Ive even written you a letter which you responded very quickly, by the way. For i think in the Administration Nobody has been more forthcoming on support and solidarity with those who are struggling for freedom around the world. You have done so repeatedly on social media, which is crucial. Whether it was, for example, during the issue in cuba or the students in venezuela who are trying to recapture democracy. You have been exceedingly forth right. And for that, as i did so in writing, i want to publicly do so now. Thank you for that really three issues im going to throw out really quickly. Let me do that really quickly and then you can respond. In march a u. N. Panel issued a report to the u. N. Security council concluding that the july illegal shipment of weapons to north korea from cuba in fact violated sanctions and constituted, by the way, the largest amount of weapons interdicted going to north korea since the adoption of the resolution 1718 in 2006. I dont have to talk about all the details about it. They were clearly trying to hide it. So given the discovery of cuba and north koreas regime frankly conclusion to violate u. N. Sanctions, what action is under way to hold those two regimes responsible for violating for obviously violating u. S. Sanctions . Point number one. If i can then jump to venezuela where again, like you have been in cuba, you have been very vocal, very, very vocal. You cannot underestimate the importance of those statements you have been making on twitter. For those repressed and oppressed. I dont have to tell you whats going on in venezuela. Youre very familiar. What is the administration or what can or are you doing specifically through the United Nations to bring attention to the frankly the horrible situation in venezuela where students are being arrested where frankly one of the main opposition leaders have been in prison over a month and all of the Human Rights Violations in venezuela . Again, i encourage you and i know youll continue to do your part publicly, but what is the u. N. Looking at that and what can be done there . Lastly, to a fiscal issue that you talked about, and i think i still have a little bit of time, specifically concerning the issue of the peacekeeping funds so that the president s budget request is more than 800 million for peacekeeping. Peacekeeping in your account. The concern is the assessed rate for the United States continues it continues to rise above what is frankly authorized by u. S. Law. So then meanwhile the u. N. Approves new and expanded peacekeeping missions that are frankly very costly. And then we dont see a lot of reductions or proposals for the elimination or reduction of missions that have been around for decades. For example, such as the one in the Western Sahara. So there, what is the administration doing to reduce or to eliminate hopefully outdated u. N. Peacekeeping missions . Why should the committee this Committee Support and continuously fund when there is very little, frakly, if any discipline being shown in budgeting for those Current Peacekeeping Missions . And what is being done to bring a resolution for those, like the Western Sahara . We have a very strict chairwoman and so we try to be very cooperative with her. [laughter] exactly. I know my place, madam chairwoman. Given how important each of the questions are, im very nervous about the 54 seconds i have left to answer them all. So i hope i hope the chairwoman would give me just a little bit of indulgence so i can at least seek to do some justice. I suspect the issue of the fiscal climate and the peacekeeping funds will come up and will be raised by other members so maybe i can elaborate in greater detail. Let me start, if i could. You rightly note that the peacekeeping request that we are making or the peacekeeping funds that we are asking for are were asking for more this year than we did last year. That is only to a couple key issues. The first is mali last year occurred after our regular budget cycle. By mali, i mean the takeover of 2 3 of the country by violent extremists and as a result, part of what were asking for here is funding to make up for a mission that was authorized outside the regular budget cycle. But the other reason is that south sudan tragically, devastatingly has degenerated into horrible ethnic conflict just since december of this year and we had to expand the number of peacekeepers in south sudan. In addition, although its not actually reflected in the president s budget request, because this has just come on, we are going to be requesting funding, as the chairwoman indicated in her opening state, for the statement for all likelihood and this is what were beginning to consider with you all on. I hope to speak to the devastation of whats happening there. But youre right, its not enough to simply say the real world is presenting these emergencies and we have to respond to them because we live in a fiscally challenged climate. And so what we have done over the course of the last five years and i was actively involved in this at the white house as the president s u. N. Advisor, we brought down the costs per peacekeeper. It is 16 lower than what it was when we were seeking costs. The pie is bigger because the real world emergencies you only have to read the newspaper to see that the world is presenting successive challenges to us, but per peacekeeper we are bringing down the costs. That has involved eliminating duplication. Again, i wont go into the details here. I hope well have a chance to elaborate on some of the measures here. We just last year closed down the mission in sierra leon. You heard me say these peacekeeping missions we find them essential but they need not be eternal. I think there is a habit once a mission gets set up to not be efficiently assessing the original reason that the congress and the u. S. , you know, came to support a mission and assessing whether that mission is appropriately configured given the circumstances on the ground. You know, there are reductions happening, but in a responsible way in haiti, liberia, ivory coast. I think we are tremendous gains have been made. Again, i can speak more to that. On venezuela, we have a responsibility, of course, as the United States to speak up on behalf of those who are seeking their freedom. And i really appreciate the tremendous leadership youve shown always in standing up to repressive regimes. I think nearly 40 people have been killed in these protests, these peaceful protests where people are airing their legitimate aspirations and grievances. You talked about the criminal dissent. That is something we have been outspoken about. Weve called for a third party to get involved in some mediation because its in everybodys interest for this crisis to en. But that third Party Mediator needs to be credible for both sides. Until recently that was a Sticking Point but progress has been made. At the u. N. At the Human Rights Council we issued a joint statement on venezuela and listed the number of countries to join us. It will not surprise you that given that the u. N. Is filled more than half of u. N. Member states are nondemocratic, it is not always easy for us to pull the kind of coalition of the willing, shall i say, across but that is with a we seek to do. We seek even if we cant get overwhelming vote counts, we seek to kind of create alignments of people who share the same democratic values, speaking out on behalf of venezuela. Id welcome any ideas you have about further steps we can take within the u. N. System and agree that its important to raise it there and the human rights that is meant to be at the heart of the u. N. Charter. Lastly if i could, just on the dprk in cuba, sanctions violations, we there is sort of a lot of very bureaucratic things we are doing at the u. N. On this particular case. It was the Largest Armed seizure. We are very grateful and thank panama for stepping up and meeting its responsibilities as it is doing in a remarkable way, really, across the whole host of issues, including venezuela. We have through the sanctions committee issued a public sought to issue a public implementation assistance notice to share Lessons Learned with Member States and correct cubas claims about how theyre interpreting the and the report that came back rejected the cuban arguments which we thought was important given that u. N. Reporting can sometimes be uneven is important to stress. Were seeking to impose sanctions this is challenging because u. N. Sanctions, of course, come by consensus and so we need to get china, russia and other members of the Security Council to come along board but that is a work in progress. We are trying to release the incident report which i think rejects frontally cuban claims on this issue. Thank you, madam mayorwoman. Thank you very much for this hearing. Ambassador power, good to see you again. I had the great i led the congressional black [no audio] secondly, just as defendants of the transatlantic slave trade, current day human rights issues, discrimination, both in [no audio] thank you very much for your support for human rights and civil rights, minority rights. The United Nations is a critical body in our World Community and we [no audio] engage the United Nations and the International Community to ensure a safer world. We get a huge bang for our buck [no audio] the peacekeeping missions next year, its pointed out that the bill, the omnibus bill underfunded significantly our peacekeeping [no audio] by some estimates weve come up 350 million short which puts us in many ways in an arrears position. Could you explain this peacekeeping [no audio] and how arrears will affect our ability [no audio] large part by our own nations landmark disability law, i cant for the life of me understand why we would not or why the senate would not, you know, pass the treaty, the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. So we need to know why this is so important to support disability rights around the world so we can, i dont know if we can figure out a way to move on this from this side. I think hearing about this and having this on record is extremely important. South sudan, the Security Councils decision to deploy reinforcements of course will enhance the ability to carry out civilian protection mandate. So can you kind of discuss the u. N. s efforts to ensure the safety of displaced civilians who had sought refuge at u. N. Compounds in the last several months . And then of course afghanistan. What is the u. N. Role going to be after 2014, if any . Could you just explain that . Thank you very much. Good to see you here. Thank you. Let me start if i can on the peacekeeping issue and that allows me to add a little more billion ast to the response i offered the ballest to the response i offered the congressman. Peacekeepers are going places and protecting civilians in combating extremism so we dont have to. And its incredibly important to bear in mind when malli takes over by extreme mali takes over by extremists as they were, of course, the french staged an intervention and the United Nations stepped up, but to ensure that militants remain vanc wished, we need to support peacekeeping. Thats what the peacekeepers are there to do. In sudan, protect people south sudan as a country, newly independent country, has historic relationship with us, with Many College Students around the United States, Even High School students now are exercised about the plight of people in that country. The United States led the effort with many people here in this committee, including you and frank wolf and virtually all of the members to bring about this country. And now its the United Nations that are there at a time when we are winding down our mission in afghanistan and of course have ended our mission in iraq. It is incredibly important to u. S. Interests that peacekeepers do that work. The gap between the what we owe the u. N. In terms of peacekeeping and what was appropriated i think is explicable in a couple ways. One i mentioned already the mali mission came on the books after the regular budget submission. But second, the our assessment rate right now is 28. 4 , and theres a cap and that i would appeal to this committee to lift that only allows us to pay a share of 28. 1 . Again, reflected in the members comments so far, the reason we dont want to pay more is because we were paying an awful lot. That makes sense. The formula which this percentage is negotiated is based on the ability to pay and i have made it a huge priority up in new york to try to ensure that others are paying their fair share. In the recent scaled negotiations, which were before my time where our assessment went up from 27. 1 to 8. 4 , russian and chinese assessed rates also went up. Our challenge with some of the emerging economies, you know, the brazils and indias, which have also gone up marginally. Brazil quite substantially. This formula is calculated on the basis of per capita g. D. P. And debt burden. So you get a discount if youre a country that is growing but has still huge amounts of poverty that you deal with in your country. Now we are seeking to change that methodology. But the next scale negotiation is in 2015. And while again its the 28. 4 is not ideal. We are going to fight to get it back down. Its been much higher in the past. In the 1980s and 1990s it was 31 . We are significantly lower than we once were and were trying to find savings within the peacekeeping missions that exist. I would ask you, if you could lift the cap in order to give us the resources we need to fund these really, really important missions. And please know that i will work with you hand in glove, again, to try to bring this back down. On your other questions briefly on the disabilities convention. The great champion of this is senator bob dole who has made this his great passion, and for him the fact that veterans come home from war in iraq and afghanistan, so many more veterans now suffering the loss of limbs and so forth and rehabilitating here and getting to take advantage of the a. D. A. And the accommodations we have here in this country but then being told that the while youre able bodied counterparts can have jobs overseas, only the a. D. A. Extends across the commonwealth of the u. S. And its not fair to our vets, its not fair to persons with disabilities. What this convention would do is simply allows the United States allow the United States to be party to a convention that enshrines the provision of the a. D. A. And as a party of that convention we would press other countries to bring their standards up to ours. And it is critical for us to be part of that convention in order to show real leadership on disability rights. It has strong bipartisan support in the senate. And we are still working again with senator dole, senator mccain, senator barrasso, senator ayotte and the democratic supporters to bring about ratification. Lastly on the u. N. Role in afghanistan, forgive me, congresswoman, theres a lot here, i would say a couple things. First, it is clear that the u. N. Will likely maintain a political presence. They have a critical human rights monitoring role, and were seeing right now the centrality of the u. N. In supporting the afghanled election process. And those are all things that dont cease to be necessary, you know, in the wake of any u. S. Drawdown or even eventually, you know, when, you know, all troops are all american troops are out of afghanistan. Because president karzai has not signed the b. S. A. , the president has not made his decisions what the u. S. Troop presence will look like after this year and i think the u. N. Is waiting to understand that better. Weve seen just with the monstrous taliban attacks that occurred in the last few weeks in addition to all those that preceded those attacks just how precarious the security is, particularly for civilians who are trying to aid the afghan population. And so that is a challenge. Thank you. Welcome. Let me ask you. We talked about the fact we spend a lot of money on the u. N. And over the years theres been an awful lot of effort in congress to bring about reforms to the u. N. And one of the one of the kind of glaring dysfunctions of the u. N. Is the u. N. Security council because thats supposed to bring peace and security on an international basis but it doesnt seem to always work that way. If you look at syria, the efforts to end the conflict there, i think there have been at least three times where china and russia has vetoed efforts to do that. And so you wonder how it can meet its goal when its permanent membership are divided. So i would ask you two questions. One, do you think that to a certain extent the Security Council has lost a little bit of its credibility . Maybe a loss to a little bit of its legit mass see . If so, can the u. S. Do something to regain that . The second part of that question, if you look at the other side, it seems just about every veto that weve put forward in the last 25 years is vetoing something with israel and israel doesnt get treated very well. I know youve been working hard to see that israel gets treated fair across the board at the u. N. Take those few things and talk about that. A, what kind of reforms can be brought to the Security Council or in a broader sense . B, how you think youre doing to make sure that israel gets treated more fairly in the u. N. . Thank you. Thank you, congressman, and thank you, generously, three minutes to answer your questions. Let me say about the Security Council that you have put your finger on it. When the permanent members, particularly russia, most recently, backed by china, decides not to fulfill its responsibilities under the u. N. Charter to enforce International Peace and security because they are veto holder, that leaves the council vulnerable. And theres no question that the councils legitimacy has suffered greatly not responsible responding to the humanitarian catastrophe in syria and the profound threat to International Peace and security when you have millions of people spilling over into neighboring countries, many of which are fragile like that in iraq and lebanon. And when you now see also foreign extremists take root, you see a regime brutalizing its people using barrel bombs, chemical weapons, scuds. The fact that russia can use its veto in circumstances like this really reflect a vulnerability, as you say, in the council structure. And weve had to work in other ways. Working through the arab league. Working through the Human Rights Council which, as you know, is very problematic on issues related to israel but has created a commission of inquiry that has produced really important reports for syria that will be used someday in some form of accountability to hold the perpetrators of these, again, horrific crimes to task. So weve had to do work on syria. On chemical weapons and recently on humanitarian issues, we did manage to get two resolutions finally through the Security Council and on chemical weapons we have seen, as you know, just 50 of the weapons removed. The deadline for the overall removal operation is not until june 30, but the syrians are missing a number of milestones along the way. So were very concerned about the pace of removal and elimination. There i would say russia has worked more constructively clearly because it sees its interest as imperiled, first, because of the threat of force that hung over the hung over syria back in august and september. But also because of their concern that chemical weapons will fall into the hands of terrorists and so forth. So we can still see russia a la carte can see its interests engage that coincide with ours but the humanitarian situation, though we got a resolution recently, theres not the same energy put into enforcing that resolution and were seeing very disappointing results on the ground which i can speak to later. What i would say, though, is that in complementing or at the very same time were seeing this, as you put it, dysfunction on syria and obstructionism might be a better word on the part of russia because theres more accountability on that, were also seeing the Security Council go about its business. We have seen in the midst of the ukraine crisis, we passed a resolution granting the International Community, the ability to interdict stolen oil that ends up in the high seas from libya. As the u. S. Special forces did a heroic job retrieving some of that oil but this is a phenomenon that could persist and russia went along with that. Were renewing mandates and enhancing mandates for u. N. Peacekeepers in congo and expanding the mission in south sudan in response to the situation on the ground. The council is still doing important work for the special interests but also the vulnerability is there because of the russian obstructionism. Thank you, madam chair. Ambassador, its good to see you. Ill try to ask my questions in a compressed way also so you can have most of the time to answer. I want to focus more on the palestinians pursuit of statehood or recognition by u. N. Agencies. And understanding that our policy is that we withdraw from those agencies and cease funding when a unilateral action is taken like that. How can we if you could walk us through your thoughts on how perhaps unilateral a unilateral approach to that concern, which is obviously a very significant concern, may not be the best strategic approach for us instead of maybe a focus in an a la cart way, to use your term, with the i. C. C. And or the iaea, if we were going to try to leverage our participation in a way that is more microtargeted approach to respond to wildly inappropriate actions like the palestinians. The other issue is on israels treatment in general at the Human Rights Council and our ability to leverage our membership in the Human Rights Council, what are we doing to get the Human Rights Council, how are we using our membership with the Human Rights Council to stop almost exclusively focusing on their obsession with israel and actually focus on very significant serious human rights abuses in syria and iran and venezuela and cuba, just to name a few . Then just a couple others. On humanitarian assistance, its been the entire for the entire existence of the United Nations that weve essentially shouldered the burden of financing much of what it does. How do we encourage more cost sharing from, you know, wealthier countries that actually have the ability to step up and how can we use u. N. Security council 2139 to encourage other donors to do that . Particularly rich gulf nations, for example, that have the resources but choose not to use them. And then lastly, if you could just cover the issue of u. N. Reform, because i know the United States position is that reform and economy, accountability, integrity, excellence are all essential. So what are we working on in that regard . Thank you, congresswoman. I mean, on the palestinian question, i would just underscore that we will oppose attempts at upgrades in status anywhere. We are in very close touch now. We have a monthly meeting with the veilies where we look out at the israelis where we look at the seas of organizations including treaty bodies and coordinate with them and also try to understand whether they are prioritizing in particular ways sort of along the lines what youre suggesting. The i. C. C. Is of course something that we have been absolutely adamant about. Secretary kerry has made it very, very clear to the palestinians, as is the president. I mean, this is something that really opposes a profound threat. To israel its not a unilateral action that will be anything other than devastating to the Peace Process which is again where all of our efforts should be placed right now. We, you know, before the peace negotiations started between the two parties restarted with secretary kerrys and the president s leadership, we were fighting on every front contesting unilateral efforts on every front and that is what we would do in any event because we dont think this is a productive approach. We dont think there are shortcuts. And we know that these that this can be an effort to delegitimize israel. Its a great way to upgrade palestines status. My point on the waiver and the funding issue is that the American People and the United States are so much better off when the United States is in Good Standing within these organizations, defending our interests, fighting for our friends and not surrendering the Playing Field to those that would do like nothing more than the United States not to be in these organizations. So were not punishing the palestinians if we cut off funding to these agencies. Were punishing u. S. Interests. And that is why, again, we need to deter precisely the moves with the spirit behind the legislation, to deter palestinian action, thats what well do all the time and well continue to do. But you cant surrender the u. S. Interest in the process. Very briefly, on the humanitarian assistance, cost sharing, let me talk about that since it has not come up before. The kuwaitis have been the one in the syria context to host the last two conferences and we think its progress and an example of the kind of leadership. And theyve really shown tremendous leadership on the humanitarian situation. We seek to mobilize resources from the countries that youve alluded to. And you have seen emerging economies, you know, like brazil and others make contributions in a new way in light of the, again, the scale of the catastrophe but we think theres a lot of room for others to be doing their fair share and particularly those wealthy countries in the region, a region that stands to be very destabilized, again, by the effects of this crisis. Ill leave it there. Thank you, madam chair. Ambassador, thank you so much for joining us today. Theres so many topics to cover and so little time. We appreciate the work of all of our diplomats and leaders around the world. Thank you for your leadership. Certainly with we talked about syria and north korea, russia. Continuing to be, i think, perhaps on a lot of our minds is the Nuclear Threat from iran. I now youve spoken about that this morning on several of the questions. I have some specific questions for you, just like to get your thoughts on as we as a Congress Look at what our future Foreign Policy should be. As we come back to the Iranian Nuclear desires, i know were in a diplomatic mode now. Should those diplomatic efforts fail, is military action still on the table if iran does not abandon its Nuclear Program . And how are we articulating that today . Would that military action require u. N. Security approval to move forward . Would you seek i know were dealing in hypotheticals. Not damage any current effort. I respect and appreciate the way youre going to have to try to articulate your answer here, but would you seek u. N. Security approval and would you be would the country be willing to move unilaterally without that approval . Did the United States war and action in iraq require u. N. Security approval . Do we believe that that did in retrospect . And then second topic, the administration has called for certainly a reset with relation to russia . In past years. What can we do to successfully deter valid minute putin moving forward . How do we reset those relations again because clearly that didnt work as successfully as probably anybody would like. And you were in the white house and witnessed the struggle in our country over the murder of the ambassador in benghazi. Continues to be a very big topic in our country. And certainly before congress. What the United States did to prevent that attack. Following that attack for the then ambassador on what led to the attack. I guess seeing that firsthand and now youre the United States ambassador to the United States to the u. N. , what have we learned and specifically what are we doing differently in the security and how would we treat Something Like this differently in the future . Thank you. Ok. Thank you so much, congressman. Let me as you anticipated it will not shock you that im not going to engage in hype theycals hypotheticals, so i think its more appropriate to describe the president s position which is that even today he has taken no option off the table as it relates to iran. Consistently he has made clear on any issue that if americas vital National Interests are at stake hes going to act to protect the American People and our Vital National security interests. And what that means is that, you know, in the event that the Security Council does not accommodate our his need to lead and perform his duties as the commander in chief, hes still going to pursue what he deems the right policy on behalf of the American People. In terms of the retrospective question you asked, again, i dont think its appropriate for me here in my current role to be going back over decisions that were made. Were focused at the u. N. But across the administration is trying to shore up the security situation in a country that unfortunately in recent months has really taken a turn for the worst in terms of the penetration of terrorists, the seizure, as you know, by terrorists of iraqi towns, towns that very brave americans expended, you know, made great sacrifices to try to secure for the iraqi people. So we are focused, the u. N. , special representative there is working hand in glove with our embassy to try to defoote that crisis, to try to ensure that the coming elections go off without causing, provoking or being accompanied by more violence. That is our emphasis on iraq. On putin, i would just say that the steps that have been taken even just since the socalled referendum in crimea and the socalled annexation which we reject and which the United Nations has rejected now in an overwhelming way, the step that steps we have taken already had an effect. Youre seeing investor investing plummet. Youve seen if there is not a rule of law in russia and clearly taking part of someone elses country doesnt reflect a respect of rule of law, whether domestic or international, that that is a very perilous market environment. And so, again, you know, we do believe that this economic and political isolation that president putin has chosen for himself is going to have an effect. And we are in addition to that, of course, supporting, thanks to the house vote and the senate vote on this issue robust Financial Assistance for ukraine so that, you know, x number of years from now we see a prosperous ukraine that is thriving, that isnt forced to choose between east and west and where the people see the benefits of the kind of economic integration available to those countries that play by the international rules. Thank you, madam chair. Welcome, ambassador. At the outset, i want to just express my support for that Flexible Funding mechanism for u. N. Peacekeeping missions. Regrettably, given how unstable the world is right now, its not a question of whether well need to support such operations, only where, and i would much rather make that kind of investment than have american boots on the ground or suffer the effects of total state failure and collapse and all the related risks that we ultimately face as a result of those failed states. I wanted to just direct my question to syria. Syrian civil war has claimed the lives of at least 150,000 people. 1 3 of whom are civilians. The observatory for human rights announced yesterday millions more have been forced to flee to jordan, turkey and even iraq and millions more have become eternally displaced, their faith hanging on the ebb and flow battle. Its minority populations and especially syrian christians who are at most at risk. As you know, ambassador, these are some of the oldest Christian Communities in the world. A town which is predominantly armenian christian were attacked and the town was emptied in a bloody assault. Many of the residents are victims of the armenian genocide. Can you tell us what efforts the u. N. And its agencies working in and around syria are working to safeguard armenian communities . Many are seeking resistance and other n. G. O. Facilities out of fear for their safety and are thus more likely to be displaced persons. Is it on the agenda in new york with reference to syria . And finally, is there any diplomatic movement at all in resolving the syrian conflict or is assad so confident of his military advantage now that any hopeful diplomatic resolution is essentially gone . Thank you, congressman. First, on the peacekeeping response mechanism, thank you for raising it. Let me just say a word on that. Knowing that not all may think its the right thing from the beginning. This mechanism comes about because what weve gone through in the last few budget cycles where realworld exjensies like that in mali, potentially in the Central African republic, arrived after our budget. The bad guys in the world are not responsive to our budget cycles and were trying to prevent the rise of extremism and protect civilians, you know, meet humanitarian needs. This is not something where the money would be spent on anything other than the kind of emergencies that this committee, subcommittee and the larger committee have expressed and proven their support for over the years. And one of the things that i was that we would be very eager to discuss with you is how could we create some kind of consultative process where you felt at the heart of the decisionmaking around the use of such a mechanism. But we are finding ourselves our decisions base shrunk in new york when a crisis arises because of the prior years cycles. If you look at the refugee funding, theyve found a way, because refugee is unpredictable to embed, id gather, within refugee programming allowing for the kind of consultation that would allow realworld emergencies and realworld peacekeeping missions, exjensies to secure funding in a nimble way. On kasab, it is an issue of huge concern and the broader faith of minorities and all the Syrian People is of pressing concern. In terms of what the u. N. Is doing about that particular the takeover of that particular town, the Security Council has met recently. I believe it was just ive lost track of time. My preparation for this hearing. I think it was late last week on friday where we discussed the humanitarian situation in syria generally and most of the councilmembers raised the issue of kasab calling on the u. N. To do more to try to meet the needs of these people. This was in a closed consultation on the humanitarian situation in syria in compliance with the humanitarian resolution. You know, i would note that unfortunately the Extremist Group that has taken appears to have taken hold of that town is not one that the United States or the United Nations has a huge amount of leverage over. And so our emphasis now is on supporting the moderate opposition in syria that is taking on these Extremist Groups and making sure that the u. N. Has the funding it needs and the resources of all kinds that it needs to accommodate refugee flow or in the case of the armenian syrianarmenian community and internally displaced flow. So its resources, strengthening the moderate opposition which is taking on the very group that appears to have taken over that town, making sure that none of the neighbors are giving support to terrorist groups or Extremist Groups which would aid their efforts in seizures like that and going on a funding drive internationally because only a very small percentage of the u. N. Funding appeal for syria generally has been filled at this point. Thank you, madam chair. Good morning. And following up on mr. Schiffs questions with respect to syria, the u. N. Security council has demanded that the government of syria and opposition groups allow humanitarian aid to be delivered. The secretary generals report last week made it clear that the Syrian Government is violating the Security Council resolution i believe adopted in february. The administration is also on record that the Syrian Regime is in violation of the Security Councils demands and many of my constituents, i think i mentioned to you, i have the largest Syrian Community of any in congress, help the Syrian People and this subcommittee provided a significant amount of funding and increase for humanitarian aid to help meet those particular needs. What will the United States and the u. N. Do to ensure that aid can get to the Syrian People . Thats my principle question to you. Well, the first thing we sought to do was to get russia onboard with a humanitarian resolution that included in it a list of very specific demands which capture at least some again the spirit of your question, a demand to lift named besieged areas, allow crossborder food access reaching up to three million to four Million People that is in hardtoreach areas, and although the russians have and the chinese had vetoed three resolutions on things roughly related to the humanitarian fate of the Syrian People, in february they finally came onboard and supported a strong resolution. That was a resolution also that threatened further steps in the event of noncompliance. And now because of the noncompliance you allude to, i mean, really just a drop in the bucket compared to the set of demands i just laid out, we are consulting with our partners about what further steps we can take, recognizing that russias history on this issue does not leave us wildly optimistic, that they would be enthusiastic for another Security Council product but still needing to follow through on the commitments that we have made. What the u. N. On the ground is doing is seeking to leverage this resolution intactcal ways and what they can report here or there having this resolution has allowed them to get through one crossborder checkpoint that they werent able to get through before. You know, a lot of bureaucratic fixes, more visas, a committee set up by the government but its nowhere near sufficient to deal with the needs of the people on the ground, and i will say in addition to regime obstructionism which is by far the primary culprit here in terms of noncompliance with the resolution, the fact of the terrorists and Extremist Groups in syria has not made this task easier for the u. N. Also, i just wanted to ask, too, since you mentioned the russians, ukraine. Anything that can be done at the u. N. Outside the Security Council at this point, because the russians would obviously veto anything, what can be done at the u. N. To help provide assistance to the people of ukraine right now . Again, outside the Security Council . That is exactly the approach we take when we see that the Security Council is blocked, we look for alternative u. N. Venues within the broader u. N. Family. And i think there are two of the use weve made so far and we need to look at other mechanisms. The first is we had a very strong surprisingly suspenseful vote on ukraine status and on the legitimacy and the legality of the referendum last week. I say it was suspenseful because roughly analogous vote on georgia that occurred back in 2008 passed by a count of 14 yes votes i think i have the numbers right, 12 no votes and 105 on extensions. Whereas this vote we had broad crossregional support. 100 people said this referendum has no validity and will not be respected and only the venezuela, sudan, sear yarks dprk, etc. , voted with russia. So it was a very strong vote and it has real legal consequences because now legally the u. N. Finding, as it were, is the referendum was ill legitimate. The big difference we can make at the u. N. Is monitoring and the secretary general has now set a sent a team of 25, 30 monitors to ukraine, principles plea deploying to ukraine. That is alongside an osce Monitoring Team that is doing election monitoring and human rights monitoring. Can i submit a question for the record . If we all stick to five minutes we can do another round. As we are wrapping up this hearing, given the turmoil in the world, given the publics questions about whats happening in syria, what good is the u. N. , what is happening in iran, i could go on and on and we mentioned so many of the troubled spots, i thought id give you an opportunity in summing up how is the u. S. Involvement in multilateral institutions, such as unicef, unfpa, help in solving global challenges . What benefit is there to the United States in participating through these institutions . Why is participation in the u. N. And on National Security interests, and how is your office continuing to work towards updating and increasing the efficiency and transparency of u. N. Operations and Management Practices . How does the u. S. Oversee the operations of the United Nations and other specialized agencies . How are results measured and evaluated . Thank you. Make your case for why we should continue to support the United Nations . Well, let me start by noting that we go to work every day recognizing that this is not a perfect body. It is a body filled with 193 governments. And we all know that governments are challenging creatures and not executing the way we would execute. When you combine that with half of the Member States are, again, nondemocratic, it gives you also some insight into the scale of the challenge sometimes. But there are vast regions of the world, and it feels like ever more, sadly, where civilians are being targeted, where women are being subjected to horrific sexual violence, where children are being recruited as child soldiers where terrorists and Extremist Groups are seeking to spread their bile, shall we say, and recruit others to their cause. And we, the United States, do not want to be in all of those places. And yet the American People have made clear their longstanding generosity, their humanitarian impulses, their solidarity with the victims of sexual and jendered base with victims of the tsunami or any kind of humanitarian catastrophe, america always stands up and steps up first. Often its the American People doing so through private charities right alongside the contributions they make through this subcommittee and the committee in the congress. So we dont want to be deploying our troops around the world to be dealing with every crisis of the nature that ive described. While we pay a good healthy share of the u. N. Budget in terms of humanitarian assistance, peacekeeping, the regular budget of the u. N. , its the other countries of the world that pay 3 4 of the budget by and large, particularly when it comes, again, to the u. N. Regular budget and peacekeeping, its other countries that pay 71 . And it is in our interest to pool the resources of the world to deal with these crises. I give you just a few examples. I think the peacekeeping mission in mali where terrorists and extremist elements had virtually taken over that country and with the u. N. s help, led by the french, the africans, the United States, pushing to roll back those extremists, mali now has a chance and thats a chance not only for the people of mali which i think we would, of course support, but its also a chance to wipe out a threat that at some later stage could come home to ruste for us. Roost for us. Somalia, a place where it was almost, you know, a poster child for state failure now has an actual chance. Theyre building a government. The African Union has provided troops. We have helped support that, again, thanks to this committees flexibility, and al that back is on the run al shabab is on the run. It will take a very long time for the state to be fully recovered there. But that is another example, again, where we dont want to be sending u. S. Forces to somalia and we want other countries to be doing their share. Weve spoken a lot about iran today. The sanctions that we have gotten through the u. N. Security council are a force multiplier. You can see through the iranian sanctions regime and, again, we will wait and see what happens in these negotiations. Nobody is trusting that were going to be able to get where we need to get, but the reason we are in the position where we need to be because how vital that sanction is and everyone is bound to those sanctions. Thats the force of doing things through the United Nations. Thank you. Thank you, madam chair. Ambassador, in our last round of question, i had a third question that we didnt get to so i thought id give us a chance to answer it and hopefully take a full time. The question is on Lessons Learned from benghazi. And i know theres a lot of oversight committees and investigations going on. For our purposes today and where were putting dollars forward, where we finance operations, given your position in the white house during the benghazi crisis, i guess i wanted your thoughts on what we what we could have done differently, what we learned from it. And how as a nation we can move forward to ensure it never happens again. Thank you, congressman. I guess what i can speak to probably best or at least more knowledgeably is knowledgeabley is the precautions we take and how were operating and, again, there are other individuals in the government who would be more expert at precisely what accommodations that we have made and what resources were deploying where. But, you know, i, you know, have at least some visibility into the extent to which every mission is being scrutinized to make sure our diplomats who are out there serving the American People, in the case of chris stevens, one of my real heroes in the government just by the way he chose to operate, i mean, he was always at one with the people. Always reaching out in the internet cafes and trying to be out there, really hearing from the libyans how they saw their future. And its tragic that in the wake its tragic we no longer have chris, one of the great human beings and diplomats this country has ever seen and its tragic that an attack like that unfortunately has us meeting in particularly dangerous places like libya to curtail that kind of action. And we had already in the wake of 9 11 beefed up our embassy security, of course, all around the world and that had big resource consequences which youre well aware of. And now weve done, you know, of course another overlay on that in order to answer to make sure that the president and the congress and the American People are satisfied that our diplomats well, this hearing shouldnt last well, this hearing shouldnt last much longer. We have a budget feeling that we are all operating under. Were trying to do a lot internationally with less because of the cost of beefing up those missions and enhancing security. Acte rightly, again, responsibly fiscally and set spending, i do want to note that even though our peacekeeping budget request is increased for the reasons i have described, we are finding cuts across the department in usaid. We can accommodate reallife emergencies and the need to make sure our diplomats are safe. Thank you. If you would not mind, there are a couple ok. We did not use all of our time. Can you look retrospectively . What could we have done differently . Again, i was not involved in that. Too not have the familiarity offer you a productive response. Probably others are in a better position to respond. Thank you. I think you did not get to finish your response. I asked questions i did not answer. Un reform yes, you asked a similar question. The other thing is to underscore what was mentioned on venezuela. Also, to preview. You have engaged thethe secretary has and president has acknowledged the oppression going on in venezuela. If you can, more specifically discuss how can we balance the United States role . The obvious into attempts to distract from his own deliberate oppression . Ok. Let me start by addressing the Human Rights Council question. I do not remember how you worded the question. It was get they, how can we Human Rights Council through our membership to focus less on israel and more on that was the line i wanted to pick up on. What i would say is, since we joined the council since the president made the decision to return and make the council more functional for had arights, uh, we have great deal of success. Getting the council to focus more on realworld home and write human rights abuses. Where we have had less success is israel. There are fewer countries that had to look at the statistics. There are fewer countries with specific resolutions on israel. It is still a standing agenda item. The notion that israel is a standing agenda item on human which council and dprk, has some of the worst atrocities on earth syria is using chemical weapons against its people, but it is not a standing agenda item. It is of seen. Our challenge there is the numbers. Outse our platform to call what is happening and to stand up for israel and to reject. I indicated in my opening remarks that we also have security important step for israel, which is membership now in a regional grouping. It should not be something that we have to celebrate, but because they have been next ded for so exclu long, this has come to mean a great deal to israel and to us. That is happening right alongside our challenge that we face in Human Rights Council. We will continue to chip away and get israelis in leadership posts. But, on the functional side of the Human Rights Council, this is the place for the first u. N. Resolution acknowledging the lgbt persons were entitled to human rights these past two years. Should not have taken so long, but its an enormous piece of the of. You mentioned iran, they just reupped last week. The very time we are negotiating on the nuclear issue, we cannot forget the state of human rights are deplorable. This special repertoire has provided independent sources of information that is strengthening our ability to document and get the International Community im sorry . Cuba and venezuela are more challenging. Because of the way the weighting of the membership. We seek to lose use the platform that we have. People care about all we have to say. We have sought to build regional, not formal un resolutions, which we have not been able to build. That in all show regions of the world, people are willing to condemn the human rights abuses and crackdowns. I would note, in cuba, there have been more roundups in the First Quarter of this year than in a long time. One cannot be too complacent in that situation. May, i seeform, if i a flashing red light. There hasy to say, been a huge amount of duplication in the u. N. We have a department of Field Support strategy that has found 250 million in cuts on peacekeeping. The cost has come down 16 in the last 5 years. And theo leadership push we have made on on its. A bunch ofcef, agencies posting their audits online. Theyre trying to make that permanent, which is a turning point in our culture. That has been very opaque. We created a hotline on waste fraud and abuse. The regular budget growth has been growing froze the budget growth and put in place a spending freeze. We are looking at staff compensation, which is where 70 of the cost were accrued. We did a review on compensation. In the last budget cycle, we secured the cutting of 221 posts. Everyone wants to keep posts for you know who this is a substantial achievement. I might as will present you i may not be able to stay for the answer. The United States has long led the fight against the Arab League Boycott of israel. They have combated the delegitimization of israel with International Reforms like the one. The u. N. The latter part is boycotting sanctions. It represents a new line of attack against israel, delegitimizing their actions through International Systems and misuse of international law. There are now International Codes of conduct that harmed them economically and politically. These vestiges remain, but we effectively ceded the boycott by establishing legal protocols and advising corporations about penalties. While the challenge of this boycott there have been sanctions. The underlying principle remains the same. We cannot allow others to pervert International Assistance to attack israel. We cannot allow international conduct to be turned into weapons. The question is, do you share my concerns . The u. S. At steps does taking to ensure that the International Systems that we are part of are not taking actions to single out and delegitimize israel . The last question is, how are we engaging with International Bodies to establish new codes of conduct . These could be used as sticks to wage a campaign against our allies. Let me try to take advantage of your presence here for the next minute to say that we oppose and reject investment in boycotts. Secretary has been very clear on this. The formn. System, that that has taken is more along the lines of the we have discussed so far, the exclusion of israel from various groupings. I just had the chance to discuss the western european and others group. Back in 2000, we were able, in new york, to get israel membership. We were always denied israel was always denied in geneva. Taking advantage of the Peace Process and years of lobbying, israel was finally admitted this fall. In new york, there is the human rights caucus for likeminded countries. They vote the same way and think the family. Israel is voting with the countries as a part of that group. Very high even higher than the United States. For years, they were excluded. We just secured membership for israel in the group. Israeli officials have had a hard time becoming senior u. N. Officials. Gottennt years, we have israeli officials elected by the president of the general assembly. We did u. N. Human rights councils they have named in israeli independent expert. We have gotten them onto executive committees i mention these in some detail l because this is what has to happen alongside stated bids. Thank you. Two questions. Is there any kind of diplomatic efforts open on syria given a ssads current military advantage . A lot of the barriers are coming down at home in terms of the lg bt community. There seems to be a lot of laws in russia and africa. What are we doing at the u. N. To try to get out ahead of this to be proactive on this . Utinse this as part of p effort to create a new ideological war with the west . , the diplomatic process is not in a good place. , the share, personally meetings we had while the mediator was in new york, the challenge we were facing is that the mediator has put forth a path forward, which would have the parties, both of whom showed up for the second round of geneva after much preparatory work on our part with the in order for these talks to go forward, one cannot exhaust the topic of terrorism. Without dealing with the issue of the Transitional Government body, which is the cornerstone of the geneva communique. Up to thisposition point is, we will not talk about the transitional governing body until we have dealt with terrorism. Faith. S a show of bad the way they are approaching be stocked. We are working aggressively to try to getnes those who have influence over the Syrian Regime to change their position. Were now, is the syrians preventing the reconvening of another round of geneva talks. , it is very important that the moderate opposition be strengthened. We are looking at additional steps we might take in order to enhance their efforts on the ground. Hasthing quite significant happened over the last few months. They have taken on terrorists is Extremist Groups, which one factor behind some of the s recent military games. Including infighting within the opposition. It is a u. S. Interest for that moderate opposition who are commit to protect the rights of minorities and who seem to have a vision for syria that is multiconfessional. For thoseur interests elements to be strengthened. Ht now, the regime is not does not feel that it needs to come to the negotiating table. That support for the moderate opposition is going to be a critical component alongside pressure on those who are backing the regime to bring the regime to the table. On the lg bt issue, i would agree completely with the way you characterize it. Sust when people in thi country are seeing a rate of progress, when it comes to gay marriage and inclusion and incredibly it is important and needs to continue and even speed up for the sake of the dignity of all People Living in this country. At the very time we have good new stories in this country, the trend internationally is going in the opposite direction. There are laws commercializing homosexuality in 80 countries at present. The countries that you mentioned in africa and the baltics, this is a new chapter in what has been a chronic effort to criminalize sexual orientation. The Death Penalty is applied in seven countries on the basis of sexual orientation. How president obama issued the firstever president ial directive on lg bt