Transcripts For CSPAN U.N. Ambassador Says U.S. Voice Remain

This hearing will come to order. Today we consider the role of the United States at the United Nations. In her first few months, Ambassador Nikki Haley has approached her job with determination and purpose. Chairing the u. N. Security council in april, she spotlighted the grave security challenges, north korea, and nuclear proliferation, and the threats they pose to us. She has castigated iran and hezbollah for their role in sowing instability across the middle east. Ambassador haley has made it Crystal Clear that the u. N. Human Rights Councils record of protecting dictators cannot stand. Indeed, as Ambassador Haley as declared, the United States role at the u. N. Is to show our strength and our voice and have the back of our allies. I think that is well said, ambassador. The United Nations is charged with the Ambitious Mission to maintain International Peace and security and to achieve International Cooperation in solving International Problems. But unfortunately the organization all too often falls short. U. N. Organizations continuously debate issues, but too often take no meaningful action. As Ambassador Haley has described, u. N. Organizations like the Human Rights Council give dictators and give human rights violators a platform to attack israel. In addition to calling for the u. N. To end its bias against israel, she has made Crystal Clear that the International Body can no longer be used to promote antisemitism. And i was pleased to see Ambassador Haley recognize that human rights and conflict are directly connected, in her words. From my standpoint, i think regimes that do not respect the citizens over which they hold power, and visitors like otto warmbier, wont respect their neighbors, wont respect international agreements. Respect international agreements. Given its terrible human rights record, it is no surprise that north korea is determined to deploy international ballistic weapons technology. The United Nations has passed good Security Council resolutions on north korea, spurred by u. S. Legislation that we passed in this committee. U. N. Peace keeping has played a Critical Role over t and given its terrible human rights record, it is no surprise that north korea is determined to deploy International Nuclear ballistic weapons technology. And that threatens the region and it threatens the United States. Meanwhile, companies and banks inside china continue to provide critical hard currency to that regime. The United Nations has passed good Security Council resolutions on north korea, spurred by u. S. Legislation that we passed in this committee. But solid enforcement is needed. As we will hear today, the president s Budget Proposal includes significant reductions in u. S. Funding of the United Nations and its agencies. U. N. Peacekeeping has played a Critical Role over the years in advancing u. S. Interests and should be prioritized in accordance with u. S. Law. The recent deaths of peace keepers in south sudan and in mali remind us of the dangers they face. But peacekeeping would find more support if failing missions, some decades old, were closed and the horrendous sexual abuses tackled head on. And accountability, advancing protections of whistle blowers and bringing u. N. Peace keepers that are sexual predators to the bar of justice. Ambassador haley, we look forward to how we can support you working to improve transparency and accountability. This committee stands ready to assist in your difficult tasks ahead. I now turn to the Ranking Member for his opening remarks. Thank you, mr. Chairman and madam ambassador. Welcome to the Foreign Affairs committee. Ive watched you in the short months that youve been ambassador. I hope youre enjoying my hometown of new york, best place in the world. And ive watched you with admiration in terms of how youve been conducting yourself. As i said to you in the room before we started, we pride ourselves on this committee of being the most Bipartisan Committee in the congress. The chairman and i have worked very hard to do that. When there are disagreements, there are disagreements. But we all share the same goal. Of course, the United States is the worlds biggest super power. We believe that we have a lot to offer the world and want to continue to work with all the countries of the world. I was disappointed in the budget. I said this to secretary tillerson as well. It cuts our support for key Peace Keeping efforts in the United Nations by nearly 40 . Peace keeping missions help people who have been driven from their homes by atrocities in south sudan. U. N. Peacekeepers are protecting more than a quarter million civilians. Missions are scheduled to close soon because theyve been so effective in building stability and security. We are traditionally invested a little more than the minimum required in Peace Keeping. And thats what i think an indispensable power should do. Which is what we have done. It is to show the world that we help country that wants to prosperous lives. American personnel are not deployed. These initiatives help prevent crises and so we dont have to intervene. They do it for eight times less than it would cost to send an american soldier. Burden sharing, i know there has been talk about burden sharing. I believe these efforts are the definition of burden sharing. The administrations also seeking to completely eliminate american support for the u. N. Development program for Disaster Relief coordination for the u. N. Women, for the u. N. Population fund, for unicef. Support for children living in the most 100 reduction, i think that needs to be changed. The u. N. Has its problems, no one disputes that. We talked a little while about some of them. I personally think the way israel is blamed and bullied by u. N. Members is terrible. As i told you before, the socalled Human Rights Council has the worst human rights abusers on that council. It is the epitome of gall or chutzpa to think they can sit and look at anybody in judgment of anybody given the fact that they have the most abysmal human rights records in the world. It almost makes it a little bit like alice in wonderland. But i do think American Leadership is urgently needed to help shape Security Council resolutions and other initiatives. But walking away from our commitments isnt the right way to effect the reform that we all want to see. Were willing to cede the ground to whomever steps into our place. I cant imagine a more harmful course. If we want our values and our priorities to be the priorities of other countries, then withdrawing from multilateral involvement is a grave consideration. Im glad that congress will have the last word on the budget issues. I remain deeply concerned about the number of other areas where American Foreign policy is going off course and how that affected s our ability to work with other governments through the u. N. I hope your testimony will address some of these problems. Let me say as i told you before i look forward to working with you. You have approached this job with a zest and verve thats been very refreshing. We will from time to time have policy differences but i think we all stand for the same thing, obviously. And that is what we tried to do in the Foreign Relations committee. So, welcome. I look forward to your testimony and look forward to your tenure as u. N. Ambassador. I yield back. Thank you, mr. Ingel. I now yield to the gentleman from South Carolina to introduce our witness today. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Its a pleasure for me to introduce my friend, Ambassador Nikki Haley, to my colleagues. A South Carolina native, Ambassador Haley graduated from my alma mater, the 2016 National Football champion clemson tigers. Im shameless, guys, shameless. In 2004, she became the first indianamerican to hold South Carolina Public Office when she won a seat in the South Carolina state house where i served with her for six years. In 2010 she was elected the first female as well as the first minority governor of South Carolina. In her tenure as governor of South Carolina, Ambassador Haley brought investment and jobs from all over the world. South carolina now holds more than 1200 operations of International Firm which is employ more than 131,000. A lot of this investment was directly tied to governor haleys efforts. Especially in businesses in europe and asia. On november 22, 2016, the president elect picked her to become the United States ambassador to the United Nation nations where she continues to strongly represent american interests on the world stage. Ambassador haley, welcome to congress and we look forward to your testimony. I yield back. Welcome, ambassador. Without objection, the ambassadors full prepared statements will be made a part of the record. Members will have five calendar days to submit any statements or westons or any extraneous or questions or any extraneous material. I would ask you if you could summarize your remarks. Ambassador haley thank you very much. To my friend jeff, go tigers, and thank you for that introduction. Chairman royce, Ranking Member ingel and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss advancing u. S. Interests at the United Nations. Five months and three days ago i was sworn in as u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations. I came into this position at a time when Many Americans felt a deep sense of betrayal at the u. N. In the wake of the passage of resolution 2334. At my confirmation hearing i made the following promise if i am privileged to be the u. S. Ambassador, i will never sit passively while americas interests and friends are run down at the u. N. Five months later i can say that i havent been quiet on the issues important to the United States and i can say this i have kept my promise. Our friends and our rivals know that america has once again found its voice at the United Nations. The International Community is now very clear about what the u. S. Is for and what the u. S. Is against. It wasnt long after my confirmation that my promise was put to the test. In early april, the Syrian Regime dropped chemical weapons on syrian children. We forced the Security Council to hold an open emergency session, which some Member States didnt want. We drew a red line. If the u. N. Would not act collectively, the United States would act alone. And we did. We brought new accountability to the north korean regime. When north korea continued its illegal missile tests, we brought all the nations of the Security Council together including china and russia to impose new sanctions. Even as we focus on north Koreas Nuclear and missile threat, we also continue to highlight the barbaric Human Rights Violations the regime is committing. Otto warmbiers death brought home to americans the brutality that North Koreans have known for decades. The same clear voice weve used to take on our adversaries, weve also used to support americas values and americas friends. Thanks to u. S. Leadership, human rights are at the forefront of the u. N. Agenda. For the First Time Ever during the u. S. Presidency of the Security Council, we convened a meeting dedicated solely to the protection of human rights and their relationship to conflict. We made the case that Human Rights Violations and conflict are directly related. History has played out. When governments dont respect the rights and voices of the people, conflict will soon follow. Weve also called out the u. N. Human Rights Council for legitimizing human rights violators at the expense of their victims. We forced the withdrawal of a we refuse to tolerate well the u. N. s most disreputable and dangerous habits obsessively bashing israel. We forced the withdrawal of a bias for work and we steered the debate on the middle east away from unfairly targeting israel and towards the true threats in the region such as ironic and hamas. Iran and hamas. Peacekeeping is one of the most important things the u. N. Does. Were reviewing every one of the Peace Keeping missions with an eye toward ensuring that we have clear and achievable mandates. Were also working to ensure that troops are ready, professional and committed to the safety of civilians on the ground. Troops in the u. N. Peace keeping mission in the democratic republican of the congo have long faced charges of sexual abuse and other serious misconduct. We inserted clear instructions into the missions most recent mandate to enforce performance standards for troops. There is no place in any u. N. Peace keeping mission for predatory and abusive troops. Our Peace Keeping reforms are aimed at producing more Effective Missions for vulnerable citizens. We will hold governments accountable to their responsibility to protect their own citizens while also cutting down waste and inefficiency. Weve adapted the mission in haiti to changing conditions on the ground and our target are on target to save at least 150 million for the year. We will continue our Reform Efforts when we take up the Peace Keeping Mission Renewal this month in darfur, sudan. Our efforts will hold the government accountable to improve humanitarian access. Mr. Chairman, thank you for this opportunity to highlight our efforts to reassert u. S. Leadership at the United Nations. Its hard to believe its only been five months since i moved my family to new york to begin this exciting and challenging new chapter. I look forward to more progress in the months ahead and i welcome your questions. Thank you. Thank you, Ambassador Haley. Let me start with this point. This week the white house issued a firm statement, a warning to syria after it was picked up that assad his regime was preparing potentially for another chemical weapons attack. You amplified that message yourself. Have we seen assads regime take any steps in response to that warning . Ambassador haley well, i can tell you that due to the president s actions, we did not see an incident. What we did see before was all of the same activity that we had seen prior for the april 4 chemical weapons attack. So i think that by the president calling out assad, i think by us continuing to remind iran and russia that while they choose to back assad, that this was something we were not going to put up with. So i would like to think that the president saved many innocent men, women and children. Let me ask you a question on the u. N. Security Council Resolutions that were passed with respect to north korea. Were a few years away from north korea having an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile capability that can reach the u. S. And we have this question about enforcement. We have a second bill in addition to the sanctions bill which i and mr. Engel passed formerly, and it was signed into law. We have a second bill to try to close any additional loopholes. Specifically what were trying to do is to stop the use of forced labor by north korea where theyll have workers sent to the middle east and other countries. And instead of the workers being paid, the money goes right back into the bank account of the north korean regime and is used on its Nuclear Weapons