This week world leaders will convene at the United Nations for a round of meetings. At this time, it is important that the United States strongly affirm the idea of freedom at the institution. As Kim Holmes writes,
"[A]t the United Nations—an organization established to enshrine this universal understanding of freedom and human rights—the very idea of freedom is being vigorously challenged and even discouraged.”

The United States must take the lead in promoting freedom at the United Nations. “Freedom is fundamental to everything the United Nations hopes to do,”Holmes writes. “Without freedom, there can be no lasting peace, no sustainable economic growth, and no respect for human rights”.

Read Penalize Iran for Defying the U.N. Security Council's Deadline

Read Special Report: Reclaiming the Language of Freedom at the United Nations

For individual chapters of this special report, see

International Law and the Nation-State at the U.N. by Lee A. Casey and David B. Rivkin, Jr.

Economic and Political Rights at the U.N. by Helle C. Dale

Human Rights and Social Issues at the U.N. by Jennifer A. Marshall and Grace V. Smith

The Muddled Notion of “Human Security”at the U.N. by James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., and Janice A. Smith

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The hope that a new U.N. Human Rights Council would rectify the U.N.’s poor record of holding human rights abusers to account has, thus far, proven illusory.

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For more on the author:

• Biographical information: Brett Schaefer
• More research and commentary by Brett Schaefer

Establishing military commissions to try terrorists should not be a battleground for debating the president's ability to interpret the Geneva Conventions.