By Tahsin Chowdhury, Youth Representative to the United Nations 2/15/12
Friday, February 10, 2012, the United Nations Association for the United States of America sponsored a Membership Day event at the United Nations General Assembly. Members of the Peace Action Delegation attended, including myself. We sat and observed, as experts from a wide variety of fields spoke about the United States’ leadership in the United Nations and how crucial it was for American foreign policy and the betterment of humanitarian crises globally to sustain American involvement in the United Nations.
As a young and aspiring intern, I watched in amazement as the speakers delivered speeches that sparked me with the idea that there is hope. One speaker stood out to me, and that is Congresswoman Nita Lowey and her words of support towards the American leadership in the United Nations. As a member of Congress, she stated how she has heard many kinds of criticism against the United Nations and yet remains a defender of the United Nations as a necessary institution. Her words:
“I have fought hard over the years to support the United Nations because I truly believe that membership in the UN makes our country more secure and more prosperous, and it supports US efforts to advance democracy, human rights, health, and development throughout the world.”
She later supported this claim by describing the UN involvement in the humanitarian crises of Libya against the ruthless dictator Muammar Gadhafi, which provided international legitimacy for the United States and other Member States to militarily intervene and protect civilian: implementing the Responsibility to protect principle (R2P.) She described the United States cooperation with Afghanistan and rebuilding Afghanistan’s infrastructure. She even later described various statistics of the United Nations involvement, whose impact no single state has ever surpassed. Congresswoman Lowey even brought to attention the many agencies of the United Nations that play a significant role in advancing international coordination and cooperation trade, economic development, and security.
As I was listening to her speech, it provided me with hope. Not only is she promoting the United Nations and its work unheard of in our societies, she is also a member of the American Legislative Branch: the Congress and has genuine impact on the United States’ policy decisions regarding budget and funding for the United Nations. It is a great experience as a young and aspiring intern to see a stakeholder supporting peace through Multilateralism. As a fellow advocate for a peaceful global community, we should work to support Stakeholders not for their political affiliations, but based on whether they are pro Peace or anti Peace. We should look at Congresswoman Nita Lowey as a person whose story is a success to Peace Action, and work to advance the agenda of Peace, conflict resolution, and multilateralism further in the United States Legislative System. Maybe then, can we see faster steps towards achieving the goals of World Peace.
