Bolton-Style Diplomacy Makes its Debut
Washington DC - September 6, 2005Only one month after President Bush’s controversial recess appointment of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Bolton is leading the United States in another attempt to rewrite a landmark consensus document and in doing so is further isolating this country from the international community – precisely the behavior anticipated by those who opposed Bolton’s appointment.
Just ahead of the 2005 World Summit – to be held in New York, Sept. 14-16 – Bolton has submitted more than 750 edits to the draft outcomes document. He has struck any mention of the widely adopted Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which provide clear and precise targets for reducing poverty and promoting global development – and all references to the target for rich countries to pledge 0.7 percent of their gross national incomes (GNI) to official development assistance (ODA) – toward which the majority of other donor countries have agreed to work.
The World Summit was designed to bring together more than 170 governments to discuss and review progress made toward global development goals. As was the U.S. strategy during the 10-year review of the International Conference on Population and Development’s Programme of Action in 2004, Bolton’s heavy-handed editing threatens to derail that conversation at a critical five-year juncture.
Particularly in the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in the United States and the famine that grips Niger and many parts of Africa, the international community’s commitment to poverty reduction and development must not be diluted.Only one month after President Bush’s controversial recess appointment of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Bolton is leading the United States in another attempt to rewrite a landmark consensus document and in doing so is further isolating this country from the international community – precisely the behavior anticipated by those who opposed Bolton’s appointment.
Population Action International (PAI) works to improve individual well-being and preserve global resources by mobilizing political and financial support for population, family planning and reproductive health policies and programs.
