Democratic National Party Platform Urges Multilateral Cooperation
August 19, 2008
In a recent draft of its 2008 national platform, the Democratic party outlines its positions on a wide-range of domestic and international issues, including a focus on increased cooperation with international bodies, such as the United Nations. The draft, dated August 13th, will be adopted in its final form at the Democratic National Convention, to be held from August 25-28 in Denver, Colorado. A draft of the 2008 Republican Party Platform is not currently available, but is expected to be adopted at the Republication National Convention to be held from September 1-4 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Platform, Nominee Encourage Engagement Through Treaties and International Institutions
The Platform, entitled “Renewing America’s Promise,” stresses the need for stronger international institutions in order to enhance global cooperation, and for the US to be a leader in those institutions. The Platform states, “We believe that the United Nations is indispensable but requires far-reaching reform. The U.N. Secretariat’s management practices remain inadequate. Peacekeeping operations are overextended. The new U.N. Human Rights Council remains biased and ineffective. Yet none of these problems will be solved unless America rededicates itself to the organization and its mission. We support reforming key global institutions—such as the U.N. Security Council and the G 8—so they will be more reflective of 21st century realities.”
According to the Platform, the Democratic party will work to renew US leadership in the world by “rebuilding alliances, partnerships and institutions necessary to confront common threats and enhance common security.” In addition, it will work to “make the United Nations’ human rights organs more objective, energetic and effective” by leading global efforts to promote international humanitarian standards. The Platform also states the Democratic party’s intention to make the US a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and calls for equal protection for women under the law and the ratification of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
In response to a UNA-USA/Better World Campaign candidate questionnaire, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) expresses similar positions on the importance of the US role in international institutions. He stated, “No country has a greater stake in a strong United Nations than the United States. … We cannot renew America’s global leadership so long as our leaders act as though the United Nations is irrelevant or mainly counterproductive and view active diplomacy as a sign of weakness. The United States must play a leading role at the United Nations, including by pushing to implement important reforms.”
Platform calls for Increased Support of MDGs
A central plank of the draft Democratic Party Platform notes the important relationship between national security and reducing global poverty. It states that “it is time to make the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which aim to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015, America’s goals as well.” This would include doubling the annual investment in meeting the Goals to $50 billion by 2012, including creating a $2 billion Global Education Fund in an effort to bring basic education to every child in the world. The Platform also seeks to modernize foreign assistance policies, tools and operations by streamlining US overseas development aid and reinforcing “development and diplomacy” as “key pillars of US foreign policy.”
The Platform calls for increased investment to improve global health. The Platform specifically mentions fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by providing $50 billion over five years to strengthen existing US programs and expand them to new regions, and by increasing US contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In addition, the Platform calls for reinstating funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which has been denied funding by the Bush administration for the last seven years, expand access to health care and nutrition for women, and launch Health Infrastructure 2020 to work with developing countries to “invest in the full range of infrastructure needed to improve and protect both American and global health.”
Obama Echoes Platform Backing of MDGs
Sen. Obama affirmed his support of the Millennium Development Goals and the need to help the world’s poorest in response to UNA-USA’s presidential candidate questionnaire. He stated, “I fully support the Millennium Development Goals. In the 21st century, progress must not just mean freedom—it must mean freedom from fear and freedom from want. … As President, I will make the MDGs America’s goals.” He continued, “With [increases to] our foreign assistance, the US will be better positioned to seek greater contributions from other nations in pursuit of the MDGs.”
Platform Emphasizes International Cooperation to Prevent Nuclear Proliferation
The Democratic Platform outlines a multifaceted approach for stopping the spread and use of nuclear weapons. The Platform urges the US to partner with other nations to “eliminate and stop the spread of nuclear weapons and materials” by leading a global effort to secure all nuclear weapons materials at vulnerable sites and work to increase security for nuclear weapons. In addition, the Platform calls on the US to convene a summit in 2009, and regularly thereafter, of permanent members of the UN Security Council and other key nations to agree on implementing these measures.
The Platform also calls for the doubling of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) budget and support for the creation of an IAEA-controlled nuclear fuel bank to guarantee fuel supply to countries that do not build their own enrichment facilities. In addition, the Platform calls for the strengthening of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and emphasizes the Party’s commitment to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons through strong unilateral and multilateral sanctions and increased diplomatic efforts.
To view the Democratic Party Platform in full, please click here.
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