“At the Heart of the UN’s Work”: An Interview with Ambassador Susan Rice

By ZP Heller

Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the UN, speaking to journalists following the Security Council's unanimous adoption of resolution 2094, which condemned the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea's recent nuclear test and imposed new sanctions. (UN Photo/Mark Garten)

During International Women’s Day, the United Nations focuses on fulfilling promises regarding the maternal health, equality, empowerment, education, and safety of women worldwide. There is perhaps no one better suited to help the UN sharpen this focus than U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice.

A Rhodes Scholar with a doctorate from Oxford University, Rice was a foreign policy wunderkind. Before age 30, she joined President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council in 1993, eventually serving as one of the youngest assistant secretaries of state under her mentor Madeleine Albright. She is the first African American woman to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the UN, and one of President Obama’s most experienced and revered foreign-policy advisers.

With a reputation for being charming, witty and funny in person, Rice is known for being candid and persuasive at the United Nations. In the Security Council, her unique blend of direct but effective diplomacy has successfully facilitated resolutions, delivering harsh sanctions against North Korea and Iran and military intervention in Libya. Her outspokenness even extends to Twitter, where she has been known to call out leaders and raise humanitarian concerns.

She responded by email to interview questions posed by The InterDependent.

1) How do you view the reelection of President Obama in terms of U.S.-UN relations? What messages did it send to the international community? 

From the President’s very first day in office, he made clear that we would pursue a new era of engagement abroad that would enable us to more effectively tackle global challenges that require U.S. leadership but cannot be solved alone. Here at the UN, we’ve worked hard over the past four years to rebuild the U.S.-UN relationship and put it on solid footing. This has meant taking concrete steps to improve the way the United States conducts business at the UN in both substance and style. 

On issues ranging from women’s rights to climate change, non-proliferation to development, we’ve proven ourselves to be a reliable partner for the international community. We’ve repaid hundreds of millions in dues that accrued during the past decade. We’ve invested in relationships in New York with a diverse group of countries, big and small, rich and poor, North and South. Where the United States was in the past, often isolated on the outside, we are at the heart of the UN’s work, demonstrating leadership, collaborating with others, and fighting for America’s interests.

Our approach has led to real results: the stiffest UN sanctions ever against Iran and North Korea; an unprecedented mandate and action to save lives in Libya; the historic and peaceful independence of South Sudan; effective backing for a democratically elected government in Cote d’Ivoire; the long overdue completion of a political transition in Somalia, to name a few.

Taken together, I think the international community appreciates this renewed U.S. commitment to multilateral diplomacy and leadership at the United Nations, and the American people can see that our engagement has yielded real results for them.

2) What have been your greatest challenges thus far as ambassador to the United Nations?  What do hope your legacy will be from this post?

The “Arab Spring” has posed both great challenges and unprecedented opportunities. Each country is unique, but the United States as a government has made clear that it stands on the side of people demanding the right to choose their own leaders and chart their own destinies. We have worked hard to steer the Security Council and other UN agencies to support democracy, security and respect for human rights across the region.

In Syria, the situation is grim. Russia and China continue to block meaningful action in the Security Council to pressure the Assad regime to end the violence and launch a credible political transition. Despite this deadlock, the United States is continuing our efforts to unify and strengthen the opposition and to help them prepare for the inevitable fall of the regime as well as to address the deepening humanitarian crisis.

Ambassador Rice addressing the Security Council open debate in January, regarding a comprehensive approach to counter-terrorism. (UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe)

Like President Obama, I believe principled and strong American leadership can and has made a real difference at the United Nations. The results speak for themselves and include all that I mentioned above—tough sanctions on Iran and North Korea and meaningful steps on non-proliferation, life-saving action in Libya and support for political transitions throughout the Middle East, a new independent South Sudan—plus groundbreaking advances on LGBT rights, significant progress on UN reform, renewed U.S. commitment to promoting the Millennium Development Goals and increased pressure on human rights abusers like Iran, Sudan and North Korea.

And I hope that when people look back at all that we’ve achieved, they will agree that strong and principled American leadership can and has made a real difference.

3) Since International Women's Day was last week, do you sense the international community is doing enough to achieve Millennium Development Goals regarding the health and rights of women and children? What do you think should drive the post-2015 global development agenda in general?

The MDGs that we have made the least amount of progress on are related to women and children. Specifically, we need lower maternal mortality rates, which remain one of the leading—but preventable—causes of death among women in the developing world. Hundreds of women die each day from birth complications that trained health workers could have helped to anticipate or prevent. There are millions of young girls worldwide without access to education. When women and children are denied the right to reach their full potential, we all miss out on the amazing gifts they bring to the world, not to mention the tremendous economic power they can wield to make communities more stable and prosperous.

Looking ahead, the post-2015 development framework will need to retain not only a focus on poverty alleviation and the eradication of extreme poverty, but go beyond traditional development metrics and tackle tough and critical issues such as governance, the rule of law, human rights, conflict prevention and sustainability. Women’s empowerment is a major driver in all of this, and we must redouble our efforts to ensure women have a central role in decision-making and policy implementation. This is absolutely critical for advancing the development agenda.

4) Which humanitarian crises require the most attention from the international community right now? 

Syria is a humanitarian crisis of a growing and tragic scale: an estimated 70,000 dead and four million in need of humanitarian assistance. The United States has provided more than $384 million to date to help meet the acute needs of people inside Syria and refugees across the region. In addition to being the largest single donor of humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, we are taking a leadership role in marshaling international support to do more, including through contributing to the UN’s most recent humanitarian appeal.

We continue to increase international pressure on the government of Sudan to grant unimpeded humanitarian access to those desperately in need of assistance in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile. In Darfur alone, more than 3.5 million need humanitarian assistance, and there have been renewed clashes between heavily armed tribal militias in the north, displacing over 100,000 since January. Despite these urgent needs, Sudanese authorities continue to restrict the access of UN agencies and humanitarian workers to these vulnerable populations.

We also remain very concerned by the crisis in the Sahel, where nine million are estimated to be in need of food, as well as continuing needs in the Horn of Africa, Haiti, Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere. Together with our international partners, including UN agencies like UNICEF, UNHCR and WFP, we are committed to meeting the immediate needs of the vulnerable, as well as to finding durable solutions that will allow them to lead their lives in freedom and dignity.

5) At last fall's Social Good Summit, you spoke with Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore about your own use of social media. How do you view social media as a chance to engage, educate and empower youth regarding international affairs?

Social media has tremendous potential for raising awareness of critical issues and reaching new audiences around the world. Twitter, for instance, is not only a valuable tool to engage with young people, but a way to reach people of all ages, with unprecedented immediacy. It also gives us new ways to lift up key issues. I use it, for example, to draw attention to human rights abuses, spotlight brewing crises and appeal for humanitarian donations. I’ve also used Facebook and YouTube to encourage Libyans, particularly women, to register to vote in their first elections.

And while I was not among the earliest adopters of Twitter, I was the first one in the UN Security Council to join. Now more than half of the Security Council members have a Twitter account. So, social media also provides opportunities to inject some oxygen into the work of the UN.  By discussing what happens in real time and sharing it with the entire world, Twitter contributes to a more open and transparent United Nations—something of value to us all.