Educating Mr. Trump
One hundred forty characters is not really enough to do justice to the wide-ranging work of the United Nations. But that didn’t stop President-elect Trump from trying to use his twitter account to do just that, calling the UN “just a club for people to have a good time.” It’s unfortunate that the President-elect doesn’t have a better understanding of the UN’s work and the US role in this international body.
First, it’s worth noting that there is great depth of popular support for the UN within the United States. When the Pew Foundation conducted an in-depth study just this past spring, it found that 64 percent of Americans had a favorable view of the United Nations. While this number masked a significant partisan divide, with Democrats much more likely than Republicans to support the UN, the president-elect would do well to note that one of the key constituencies in his electoral college victory, Independents, also registered 64 percent support.
Second, the President-elect may be unaware of the importance of UN, and US, leadership in furthering human rights worldwide. For all of the internal critiques of the Obama administration’s human rights record, the Administration’s engagement with UN agencies over eight years has certainly increased global awareness of the positive aspects of US human rights achievements. Under Obama, the United States has regularly submitted reports to UN bodies concerning its human rights record and goals, a practice that then gives our country additional credibility when we criticize human rights failings elsewhere. Further, the current Administration has begun using the human rights reporting process to engage our own state and local governments in achieving — and highlighting — national human rights goals. Yes, we may use this platform to tout our own achievements (Obamacare is one of them), but these UN treaty monitoring bodies are far from feel-good social clubs. The international human rights dialogue moderated by these bodies is real and constructive, and the US would lose both stature and credibility it if scaled back its robust participation.
Finally, the incoming Administration’s tweets do nothing to address the growing concern across America — in states of all hues — that human rights are of little import to the President-elect. This year’s Human Rights Day on December 9 was accompanied by columns, op eds and protests around the country from concerned citizens. In 2008, even before he took the oath of office, the incoming President Obama issued a stirring statement on human rights day signalling US commitment to these issues. The President issued similar statements each year during his two terms, concluding with the Presidential Proclamation commemorating human rights week in 2016. Sadly, to date we’ve had only tweets from the incoming administration.