Reporter lectures on U.N. changes

Though in recent years most Americans perceived the United Nations as a stagnant organization, in the past year it was hit by a flurry of changes, a veteran reporter who has covered the organization since 2003 said yesterday.

 

In a lecture attended by about 40 people, Warren Hoge, The New York Times’ foreign correspondent at the United Nations, discussed the developments that have taken place over the last year, including Ban ki-Moon’s ascension to the position of secretary-general, expansion of peacekeeping efforts and planned renovations to the headquarters.

 

Explaining the differences that he observed between the two most recent U.N. leaders, Hoge said that Ban “just doesn’t have that compelling presence” that former secretary-general Annan has. Also, Hoge said Ban needs to identify U.N. reform as an important goal. “I think he’s not paid enough attention to what happens inside his building,” Hoge said. He added that “[Ban’s] going to lose the loyalty and the backing of the people inside the building” if reform concerns are not addressed.

 

Despite describing Ban’s early attempts at peacekeeping reforms as poor, Hoge believes Ban has made several moves comparable to his predecessor’s. “He’s had two successes,” Hoge said. “The first is taking Darfur as a priority,” and the second is placing the United Nations at the forefront of efforts combating climate change.

 

Barbara Bodine, a former U.S. ambassador and a lecturer in the Wilson School, introduced Hoge and said that “the issue of what kind of U.N. we should have ... where the issue is not interstate conflicts but intrastate violence ... is something that has been placed on the U.N.’s shoulders.”

 

Hoge addressed this concern in his discussion of the organization’s current peacekeeping efforts, which he called “one of the major missions of the U.N. right now.” He noted that the force being deployed to the Darfur region is the largest operation of its kind ever conducted.

 

A problem with the peacekeeping efforts of the United Nations, he said, is that the consent of the country into which ground troops are sent must be obtained to legitimize the intervention. Nevertheless, the United Nations has committed resources to providing a more effective presence on the ground than the African Union troops stationed in Darfur.

 

Hoge also addressed the public perception of the United Nations and the relationship between the organization and the Bush administration. “George W. Bush came to office disdaining treaties and international organizations,” he said, and “the U.N. found itself in the middle of a very polarized American political fight.”

 

When Bush made the controversial recess appointment of John Bolton as the United States’ permanent representative to the United Nations in 2005, members viewed Bolton as a “stick in the eye,” Hoge explained. Of the 33 ambassadors Hoge interviewed for a story on Bolton’s performance, all but one felt he had undermined U.N. reform efforts.

 

In contrast, the current U.S. permanent representative, Zalmay Khalilzad, “has been much more effective,” Hoge said, suggesting that the switch echoes the changing opinions of Washington and the American people toward the United Nations.

 

Hoge’s final comment addressed the cosmetic changes at the organization. Next year, the U.N. headquarters will begin a $1.9 billion reconstruction, its first since the building’s completion in 1950.