US defends sweeping UN overhaul under ‘America First’

Washington: The Trump administration has defended its sweeping overhaul of the United Nations, saying it had secured the largest budget cuts in the organisation’s history while pushing it back towards its original mission of maintaining international peace and security.

Appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday (local time), US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz and Ambassador for UN Management and Reform Jeffrey Bartos said the administration had cut more than $1 billion from UN budgets, reduced peacekeeping operations and eliminated thousands of civilian positions as part of an “America First” reform agenda.

“We are getting the United Nations back to basics, back to maintaining the peace and maintaining security around the world,” Waltz told lawmakers.

He argued that the organisation had expanded far beyond its original purpose during its 80-year history.

“The UN has tried to become all things to all people and has literally done nothing but grow,” Waltz said.

According to Waltz, the administration worked with member states to reduce the UN budget by $1 billion over the past six months — the first overall budget reduction in the organisation’s history.

He said the reform effort had also eliminated 4,000 headquarters positions, reduced global peacekeeping deployments by 25 per cent and ended missions that had failed to achieve their mandates.

“We’ve also eliminated 4,000 headquarters bureaucrats, cut peacekeepers by 25 per cent around the world and, importantly, we’ve ended peacekeeping missions that have not lived up to their mandate,” Waltz said.

Among the missions singled out was the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which he said: “needs to stand down.”

Bartos described the budget reductions as unprecedented.

“We have achieved $1.1 billion in budget cuts across the regular budget and the peacekeeping budget,” he said.

“Not only is this historic reform, it has the first budget cut in the history of the 88-year history of the organisation.”

He also said the reforms had resulted in the elimination of 4,000 civilian posts and the repatriation of roughly a quarter of UN peacekeepers, including personnel accused of sexual exploitation and abuse.

Bartos said changes had also been introduced in the reimbursement system for peacekeeping equipment.

Previously, troop-contributing countries could receive payments simply for deploying equipment, regardless of whether it was operational.

“Now, to get reimbursed you have to put the equipment into use. It has to be used. It has to be working. It has to be effective,” he said, estimating the change would eventually save about $30 million annually.

Republican lawmakers largely praised the administration’s efforts, arguing that the UN had become bloated, inefficient and increasingly disconnected from its founding principles.

Committee Chairman Brian Mast described the organisation as “a corrupt, entrenched den of snakes” and said American taxpayers should no longer finance programmes that failed to advance US interests.

Democratic members sharply challenged that assessment, warning that deep funding cuts risked weakening American leadership in international institutions and allowing rivals such as China to expand their influence.

Ranking Member Gregory Meeks argued that reforms should strengthen, rather than diminish, US engagement with the UN.

“This is not reform. This is retreat,” Meeks said, accusing the administration of abandoning international institutions instead of improving them.

Throughout the hearing, Waltz insisted the administration was pursuing reform rather than withdrawal.

“Our charge is to make the UN great again,” he said.

In his closing remarks, Waltz argued that the administration wanted a United Nations that was more effective, less bureaucratic and focused on measurable outcomes rather than expanding mandates.

“We’re looking at effectiveness going out,” he said. “Ultimately, we owe that to our constituents that are paying 25 per cent of this bill.”

The United States has long been the largest financial contributor to the United Nations, funding a significant share of both the organisation’s regular budget and peacekeeping operations.

Successive US administrations have called for greater accountability and management reforms, although they have differed sharply over how aggressively to pursue those changes.

The Trump administration has made UN reform a central element of its foreign policy, arguing that American taxpayer funding should be tied to measurable performance, reduced bureaucracy and closer alignment with US strategic interests.

IANS