UN peace-keeping efforts to promote security and stability. (Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs John R. Bolton)(statement before House Foreign Affairs Committee, March 25, 1992) (Transcript)

Excerpts from a statement before the Subcommittees on International Operations and on Human Rights and international Organizations of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Washington, DC, March 25, 1992

I look forward to discussing with you a topic which I consider of great importance to the United States' national security, namely UN peacekeeping. To start, however, I would like to make a few brief remarks on three topics: the rapid expansion of UN peace-keeping, our attempts to control the costs of UN peace-keeping, and the outlook for the future.

Expansion of UN Peace-keeping The last 2 years have seen an explosion in UN peace-keeping and peace-making activities. Since last April alone, the Security Council has created new peace-keeping missions in the Persian Gulf, the Western Sahara, El Salvador, Cambodia, and Yugoslavia. Indeed, the last 4 years have seen the creation of more new UN peace-keeping operations than had been undertaken in the previous 43 years of the organization's history.

Why has UN involvement in peacekeeping expanded so rapidly? The simplest answer is because the world has changed so much. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and in the former Soviet Union has led to breathtaking changes in the relations among countries and among peoples, most of which have been for the good. They have not only brought freedom to millions of individuals who lived under the yoke of tyranny but will also lead to greater global prosperity and stability. Some changes have, however, been pernicious and have led to the open expression of long pent-up hatreds. In varying degrees, these regional conflicts damage US interests and impact on our national security.

Overall, these changes in the world order have tremendously increased the importance of the Un's peace-keeping role. With the end of the Cold War, the Security Council is finally able to carry out the chief duty entrusted to it by the founders of the United Nations-the preservation of international peace and security. No longer do animosities between the Soviet Union and the Western members prevent the council from taking action to resolve threats to the global peace.

Now, the members of the council work together effectively to address international problems which would have been allowed to fester a few short years ago. In case after case, the Security Council finds solutions to problems which once seemed intractable. Those solutions …