By Alan Caruba
There was a Washington Post news report in late March that the United Nations had “presented its top donors with a request for nearly $1.1 billion in additional funds over the next two years—boosting current U.N. expenses by 25 percent and marking the global body’s highest-ever administrative budget, according to internal U.N. memos.”
Since I am no fan of the United Nations, my first thought was to ask why the U.S. and other “top donors” would toss more money at this bloated and morally corrupt international bureaucracy when it is manifestly unable to prevent wars—its primary mission—and remains a platform for belligerence, bigotry, and intolerance?
According to the report, the request for more money is blamed on the Bush administration’s “demands for a more ambitious U.N. role around the world.” That seems a rather convenient explanation given the poor performance of most of the U.N.’s so-called peace-keeping missions, some of which degraded into the rape of the women it was supposed to be protecting; its 60-year support of the Palestinians, making them the oldest refugee group in history; and its deplorable environmental program, a platform for the most appalling lies about the climate.
We have the final years of the Roosevelt administration for the creation of the United Nations as World War Two wound down. The failure of the League of Nations to prevent the war should have been sufficient reason not to go down that path again, but perhaps it was seen as the very reason to create a new, international organization to prevent wars?
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Posted by Walt as Anti-US, Corruption, Finances at 10:00 PM EDT
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by Jim Kouri, CPP
United Nations Undersecretary General Benon Sevan of Cyprus and Ephraim Nadler, a/k/a "Fred Nadler" of New York City were indicted on charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in connection with the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program.
From mid-2000 until March 2003, the Iraqi government’s regime conditioned the right to purchase oil under the Oil-for-Food Program on a purchaser's willingness to pay a secret surcharge to Iraq. These secret payments were illegal kickbacks, made in violation of United Nations sanctions and United States criminal law.
Nadler allegedly participated in a scheme to make unlawful payments to the former government of Iraq in connection with the purchase of oil under the Oil-for-Food Program. Sevan, who at the time was the Executive Director of the United Nations Office of Iraq Program (the Office that operated the Oil-for-Food Program), as well as being the UN's Undersecretary General, allegedly received almost $160,000 — money generated from the sale of Iraqi oil under the Program — from Nadler on behalf of Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq.
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Posted by Walt as Corruption, Middle East at 10:55 PM EST
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Geneva, January 3, 2007 — UN Watch called on new UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon to create immediately an independent investigation into disturbing allegations of sexual abuse of minors by UN peacekeepers in southern Sudan, with full powers to prosecute offending soldiers as well as UN officials who were obliged but failed to prevent the crimes.
In addition, the Geneva-based human rights group urged High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, responsible for mainstreaming human rights throughout the UN, to strongly condemn the abuses and conduct her own inquiry in the region. “Mr. Ban will be judged by how firm and fast he is to take action against these shocking allegations of abuse,” said UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer. “Words from the UN are no longer enough—Mr. Ban must show deeds,” said Neuer. “First impressions count, and this is now Mr. Ban’s first important test.”
Below is the full text of the UN Watch letter sent today to Mr. Ban and Ms. Arbour.
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Posted by Walt as Corruption at 10:06 PM EST
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Geneva – Last month, UN Watch today called on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to denounce the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for sending Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, who is implicated in grave human rights violations, as its representative to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ Tripartite Commission in Geneva, Switzerland. "Mr. Pour-Mohammadi is credibly believed to have been involved in the murders of thousands of political prisoners, writers, and dissidents in Iran," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based human rights monitoring organization. "This man does not deserve to be toasted at Geneva cocktails with diplomats and high UN officials — he belongs in jail."
This is not the first time that Iran has shown contempt for a UN body in Geneva by sending a notorious human rights abuser to participate on its behalf. In June, Iran's delegation to the inaugural session of the new UN Human Rights Council included Tehran Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi, who stands accused of the 2005 torture and murder of Iranian-Canadian journalist Zarah Khazemi. (For more information on Ms. Khazemi's murder, click here.) The incident made international headlines and the government of Canada demanded Mr. Mortazavi's arrest, but he managed to leave Europe without incident.
"The Ahmadinejad government's policy of brazenly sending human rights criminals to major UN human rights and humanitarian assemblies is yet another example of Tehran's complete contempt for the standards and values of the international community," said Neuer. "It only underscores the compelling need for the United Nations to protect its basic Charter principles by resorting to a strong remedy: suspension or expulsion of Ahmadinejad's Iran." (To read about UN Watch's campaign to urge the Security Council and General Assembly to rescind Iran's UN membership, click here.)
UN Watch is a Geneva-based human rights organization founded in 1993 to monitor UN compliance with the principles of its Charter. It is accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information.
Posted by Walt as Corruption, Freedom & Human Rights, Middle East at 11:05 PM EST
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Geneva – UN Watch has called on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to denounce the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for sending Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, who is implicated in grave human rights violations, as its representative to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ Tripartite Commission in Geneva, Switzerland. "Mr. Pour-Mohammadi is credibly believed to have been involved in the murders of thousands of political prisoners, writers, and dissidents in Iran," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based human rights monitoring organization. "This man does not deserve to be toasted at Geneva cocktails with diplomats and high UN officials — he belongs in jail."
This is not the first time that Iran has shown contempt for a UN body in Geneva by sending a notorious human rights abuser to participate on its behalf. In June, Iran's delegation to the inaugural session of the new UN Human Rights Council included Tehran Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi, who stands accused of the 2005 torture and murder of Iranian-Canadian journalist Zarah Khazemi. (For more information on Ms. Khazemi's murder, click here.) The incident made international headlines and the government of Canada demanded Mr. Mortazavi's arrest, but he managed to leave Europe without incident.
"The Ahmadinejad government's policy of brazenly sending human rights criminals to major UN human rights and humanitarian assemblies is yet another example of Tehran's complete contempt for the standards and values of the international community," said Neuer. "It only underscores the compelling need for the United Nations to protect its basic Charter principles by resorting to a strong remedy: suspension or expulsion of Ahmadinejad's Iran." (To read about UN Watch's campaign to urge the Security Council and General Assembly to rescind Iran's UN membership, click here.)
UN Watch is a Geneva-based human rights organization founded in 1993 to monitor UN compliance with the principles of its Charter. It is accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information.
Posted by Walt as Corruption, Freedom & Human Rights, Middle East at 1:07 AM EDT
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Geneva, October 6, 2006 — UN Watch expressed deep disappointment that the UN Human Rights Council finished its second regular session this afternoon without taking action on any substantive human rights issue. The Geneva-based non-governmental organization closely follows the Council's proceedings.
During the session, the Council heard reports from its "Special Procedures," the 40-odd independent human rights experts mandated to monitor human rights situations around the world. Many of these experts do excellent and important work, and their reports flagged serious human rights issues in many countries, including Belarus, Burma/Myanmar, Cuba, North Korea, and Sudan. (For more on the experts' presentations, see our press releases here and here.) Yet the Council acted on none of them.
"Given its poor record to date, the Council needed to show at this session that it was willing and able to take specific action against at least some of the many countries in the world that violate human rights. Unfortunately, it utterly failed to do so," said Hillel Neuer, UN Watch Executive Director. (For a list of compelling situations of human rights violations that UN Watch and a coalition of NGOs asked the Council to address, click here .) In its three months of existence, the Council, which is dominated by countries from the UN's Islamic group, has adopted only three resolutions on country-specific situations, all of which have been against Israel.
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Posted by Walt as Corruption, Freedom & Human Rights at 10:15 PM EDT
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As a diversion from far more important matters such as the deepening quagmire for American forces in Iraq, the launch by North Korea of several missiles would be hard to beat. Calls for the UN to issue resolutions and impose sanctions against the communist regime will likely go nowhere because two of the five veto-possessing permanent Security Council member nations (China and Russia) have already indicated that they will not support such moves. It is worth recalling that China’s seat in the UN was awarded to anti-communist Free China at the UN’s inception. And the seat held today by Russia was awarded to the no-longer-existing USSR. Transferring these two seats to others is an example of the lawlessness that can always be expected from the UN. What isn’t being stated very clearly in this current “sideshow” is that whatever North Korea has in missile or other advanced military technology, it got from China to begin with. Expecting China to discipline its stepchild is ridiculous, but no more ridiculous than expecting the United Nations to be a force against any communist-led rogue nation. All of which adds up to one more reason why the honorable thing for America is to withdraw completely from the UN.
Posted by Walt as Corruption at 4:40 AM EDT
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In a speech delivered in New York City, UN Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown called for greater support from the U.S. government in combating our nation’s tolerance of “too much unchecked UN bashing and stereotyping.” U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton called Malloch Brown’s remarks “very, very grave,” but he gave no indication that the U.S. would ever withdraw from the world body.
What UN Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown is calling for is suppression of the truth which exposes the UN as the evil organization that it is. This is also an attack on our freedom of speech that is guaranteed by our Constitution.
I guess the truth hits home judging by the UN Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown's reaction of the UN bashing and stereotyping.
Posted by Walt as Corruption, Freedom & Human Rights at 9:15 AM EDT
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A report from the British group “Save the Children” claims that UN peacekeepers, aid workers, and teachers in Liberia have sexually abused native girls as young as eight years old. The report stated that UN employees in positions of authority were engaged in the widespread practice.
Responding to these charges, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator on the scene, Jordan Ryan, acknowledged that the reprehensible conduct was occurring, termed the behavior of those under his jurisdiction “unacceptable,” but pointed to the suspension of only one of the UN workers. The Liberian government and the United Nations have agreed to investigate the charges and ensure that anyone found guilty should not be employed as peacekeepers elsewhere.
The crimes being perpetrated by UN workers in Liberia are horrible, but they are only a repeat of similar crimes committed by UN workers in numerous other “peacekeeping” operations.
Related posts in this blog:
More UN Allegations Of Corruption and Sexual Abuse By UN Troops
Bolton: U.N. Riddled With Bad Management, Sex and Corruption
Posted by Walt as Corruption, Freedom & Human Rights at 6:24 AM EDT
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by Thomas E. Brewton
The View from 1776
The only substance to the UN is the building on the East River that houses it. Apart from that distinctive physical presence, it’s a dangerous charade that distorts the reality of foreign affairs and invites suicidal policies.
The currently unfolding fiasco of UN “peacekeeping” in Lebanon is just one more piece of empirical evidence that the UN is worse than useless. Will liberals like John Kerry and Teddy Kennedy ever recognize that clinging to the myth of world order through the UN is like jumping off the Empire State Building using a kleenex as a parachute?
The driving force behind Presidents, past, present, and future, going through the motions with the UN is uninformed public opinion, manipulated by the liberal media and politicians. No one who actually examines the 85-year history of this socialist mythology of world government, first in the League of Nations, now in the UN, can point to any evidence that it works. It’s just a way for the public to stick its head under the covers and hope that the goblins go away.
Nonetheless, impelled by uninformed domestic and world opinion, the United States and Israel have been ensnared in an untenable situation. Relying upon France’s UN promises to lead an international army to disarm Hezbollah, we and Israel agreed to a cease-fire.
As soon as the UN deal was signed, France backed out, and no one else is prepared to take its place. Hezbollah not only is keeping all its weaponry, but is already resupplying its arms and ammunition from Iran via Syria. With the charade of a UN “peace,” all Israeli efforts to enforce the UN-mandated embargo on arms shipments to Hezbollah are being branded by the UN and the world media as unacceptable aggression.
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Posted by Walt as Corruption, Middle East, Terrorism, War & Peace at 8:27 PM EDT
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