PRESS BRIEFING ON UNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION

PRESS BRIEFING ON UNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION

At a Headquarters press briefing this morning, Ted Turner, Chairman of the United Nations Foundation (UNF) and Timothy E. Wirth, President of the Foundation, briefed correspondents on the Foundation’s Board of Directors meeting and introduced some of its new initiatives. 

During its annual meeting, which had been completed, said Mr. Wirth, the Board had expanded its membership to 11, with the addition of Dr. Gro Brundtland.  This year, the Foundation had completed $104 million worth of grants, bringing the total of grant making by the Foundation to $689 million. 

The United Nations Foundation had three missions, he continued, namely, grant making and programme development, fundraising to bring new and additional resources to the United Nations, and public affairs.  Within the first mission, there were four areas of focus –- children’s health; reproductive health; the environment; and peace, security and human rights. 

Highlighting the work that had been done in those areas, Mr. Wirth said that in reproductive health, $125 million worth of programmes had been funded.  In the area of children’s health, there had been a major focus on polio and measles, and about $275 million had been spent on programming.  In the environmental sector, special focus had been placed on world heritage and climate change.  Finally, there was a growing portfolio in the area of peace, security and human rights.

The Foundation was also very pleased to have been able to help the United Nations tell its story, he added.  In its early years, the Foundation had been instrumental in encouraging the United States to pay its debts to the Organization.  Furthermore, a great deal of time and effort had been spent on promoting the importance of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the Foundation was very pleased with the United States’ re-entry into that organization.  The Foundation strongly supported the recently announced Secretary-General’s panel on the future of the United Nations and was pleased that two members of the United Nations Foundation Board, Dr. Gro Brundtland and Dr. Nafis Sadik, were members of that body. 

Mr. Turner noted that there were now six women on the Foundation’s board and only five men.  There was no other major organization in the world where the majority of those sitting on the Board of Directors were women.  He had felt for a long time that men should be barred from public office for 100 years.  In which case, there would be much less emphasis on the military and much more emphasis on health care and education.  Also, much more progress would be made towards eradicating weapons of mass destruction. 

Last year, a correspondent recalled, the Foundation had announced that it would be taking the remaining half of Mr. Turner’s billion dollar commitment to United Nations causes and spreading it over ten years, making the difference up with grants from other foundations and corporations.  How was that progressing? 

Mr. Wirth replied that it was originally thought that the best way for the Foundation to proceed was to spend $100 million a year.  The Board had now decided, however, to take the remaining $500 million and spread it over 10 years at $50 million a year, rather than over 5 years at $100 million a year.  Over the past year, the Foundation had given out $103 million dollars in grants.  Of that number, $50 million had come from Mr. Turner’s funds and $53 million from outside funding. The new formulation was working very well, and the Foundation had been very encouraged by the large number of new partners that had joined the Foundation.  

Asked to specify who those new partners were, Mr. Wirth said that in the measles area, the Foundation was partnering with the International Red Cross, the United States Red Cross, and the Centre for Disease Control.  The Foundation had committed $5 million and the Centre for Disease Control and the Red Cross had also committed $5 million apiece.  In the area of AIDS, the Foundation had a new partner in the Estee Lauder Company, which had committed significant resources from the sale of MAC Cosmetics to go toward programmes focused on adolescent girls’ reproductive health and AIDS in southern Africa.  

Continuing, Mr. Wirth said that a very interesting new financial instrument had been developed in collaboration with the World Bank, where the United Nations Foundation had organized a number of people to buy out World Bank loans.  The first of those transactions with the World Bank had just been completed, with $100 million going to the purchase of polio vaccines. 

Asked whether the Foundation would undertake a project on sovereignty and humanitarian intervention, Mr. Wirth replied that the Secretary-General had appointed a panel of eminent persons to look at the future of the United Nations.  The Foundation had offered to help in that matter and was committed financially to do so. 

A correspondent pointed to the Foundation’s statement that 82 per cent of Americans believed it was in America’s best interest to support the United Nations.  At the same time, there was a feeling that the United Nations was becoming anti-American, and people around the world felt that the United States was ignoring the United Nations.  How could those two sides be brought together, he asked. 

Responding, Mr. Turner said that the Iraq war had been a polarizing and divisive action.  That had happened to the United Nations before, for example, during the cold war.  In retrospect, there were a lot of people who had supported the war that now realized it had not been a good idea.  It was easy to start wars, but it was very hard to end them, he said, and people were now paying a price, not only in terms of money, but in terms of human life.  It was possible, however, that the United Nations could come out of that crisis much stronger than it had been before. 

Commenting on the quoted figure of 82 per cent, Mr. Wirth said that extensive polling had been carried out by the Foundation.  There was a tremendous reservoir of support for the United Nations in the United States, and an overwhelming number of Americans wanted the burden of Iraq to be shared through the United Nations.  They wanted a stronger United Nations and a cooperative effort by the United States Government with the Organization. 

The Foundation had organized 2,000 debates on United States foreign policy across the country, held in high schools, colleges and community groups, which had illustrated America’s interest in the world.  Additionally, the Security Council was learning that the kinds of decisions that it made were important and that they were being watched around the world. 

Echoing Mr. Wirth’s comments, Mr. Turner agreed that humanity was at a crossroads.  The United Nations was an organization that reflected humanity.  If the United Nations was in trouble, then the world was in trouble.  That was why the Foundation had been started, to help the world along with its problems and to help solve some of them. 

Concluding, Mr. Wirth said that to blame the United Nations for what was happening in the world was like “blaming Madison Square Garden for the Knicks”.  The United Nations was just the setting where the debate occurred.  The debate had to be led by the Member States, and the Foundation hoped to do everything possible to help the United States participate constructively in the work of the Organization. 

* *** *