Hello all, and welcome once again. For today’s podcast I have Conrad Sheck, former Canadian diplomat who served as Counselor to the Canadian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York and as principal representative on the U.N.’s Fifth Committee.
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The U.N.’s Credibility Gap
“Underpinning many of these concerns is a fear that the United Nations (UN) is losing legitimacy, which could undermine its relevance as a forum for international cooperation and norm-making”.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
The United Nations has failed to respond effectively to many of the challenges faced by the world, has been dysfunctional since its founding, and it seems it was set up to fail.
By creating a Security Council of fifteen member states, five which are permanent and wield a veto, they have, historically, been antagonists, incapable of achieving much consensus. Meanwhile, the General Assembly is a toothless institution – a talk shop with no credibility or authority.
The political organs also suffer from a significant lack of credibility that is apparent to all. Some of these problems are the direct result of faulty appointments by the Secretary-General. Others are the consequence of member states voting for other member states to serve on sensitive political organs without concern for their ability or willingness to respect the UN Charter.
Scandals have emerged around those in the highest positions within many of its institutions.
For example, how could member states vote for the Russian Federation and Pakistan to serve on the United Nations Human Rights Council?
In another extraordinary appointment, Ali Bahreini, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, was appointed to chair the 2023 United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Social Forum (2 and 3 November 2023).
How can anyone in their right mind appoint Iran to such a position given its egregious human rights abuses?
The Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to follow and report on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
The incumbent is Ms. Francesca Albanese, a strong public supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah who has spoken out in favor of the taking, the holding and even the murdering of Israeli hostages by Hamas the terrorist organization who have funded a number of her trips to pro-Hamas conferences in different parts of the world.
Ms. Albanese is being investigated by members of her own staff for using Hamas funding for her travels bur they will likely not find anything of consequence. A fox put in charge of the hen house!
Despite the allegations, she has refused to resign and continues in her post, and Secretary-General Guterres has refused to sanction or to dismiss her.
UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
The United Nations General Assembly established UNRWA in 1949 with a mandate to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to registered Palestine refugees in the Agency’s area of operations pending a solution to their plight.
The Palestinians are the only refugee group in the history to have an entire UN agency of some 13,000 employees at their exclusive service and have continued to enjoy this status and the billions of dollars in international funding that have accompanied it for over six generations.
Its Director General, Philippe Lazarinni, has refused to acknowledge hard evidence that illustrates the fact the UNRWA employees have been working with Hamas throughout the years and participated in the October 7th terrorist attack on Israel, kidnapping, torturing, murdering, and holding the hostages in UNRWA buildings and in their own homes.
Indeed, yesterday the U.N. finallyy acknowledged that nine employees of UNRWA “may have worked “with Hamas: this years after UN Watch provided senior management with proof that UNRWA employees were also Hamas members. According to UNRWA, they have been fired.
This does not pass the smell test, and leaves us with little confidence in the UN’s ability or willingness to police itself raher than simply cover up inconventien truths.
UNRWA installations have been used as weapons depots, launch sites for the myriad daily rocket attacks on Israel, and as schools for teaching Palestinian children to hate Jews and Israel and to believe in the legitimacy of jihad.
Lazarinni has yet to be reprimanded or asked to remove himself from office by Secretary-General Guterres. Whatever investigations continue are tainted by the current cover-up and refusal by Lazarinni to accept responsibility and resign his post.
Russia is a veto wielding permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
This month, Russia is President of the Security Council, in charge of the Council’s business and responsible for managing the passage of resolutions on all issues that de facto become international law.
Russia has broken every article of the U.N. Charter through its brutal invasion of Ukraine and its ongoing campaign of genocide of the Ukrainian people. Tens of thousands have been murdered, thousands of Ukrainian children have been kidnapped to Russia to undergo indoctrination, and the country’s infrastructure has been slowly destroyed.
Yet the U.N. Secretary-General and Secretariat are powerless to intervene and to prevent Russia from ascending to this vital position and from exercising its full functions.
Is it any wonder why public opinion is strongly suspicious of the U.N.’s ability to fullfil any useful function as a political body?
Can anything be done to make the institution fit for purpose??
I don’t believe so.
Neither Russia, China, nor the United States will allow any multilateral institution to impinge on their national sovereignty by making them subservient to the organization’s decisions.
Given this reality, then, the organization will continue to limp along as it has all these years, costing global taxpayers, especially Americans, tens of millions of dollars every year, with its political bodies achieving precious little.
The specialized agencies are a different matter.
They serve as gatekeepers that address and resolve major challenges like disease, environmental issues, telecommunications, education, and refugee tragedies. I believe that these are worthwhile and must continue.
These agencies are there when international cooperation is required such as when man-made or natural disasters occur, during epidemics and to promote cooperation in air and maritime transportation to ensure public safety.
Perhaps an organization of spokes composed of the specialized agencies with an administrative rather than a political hub might create an institution that enjoys some credibility and produces real results. A small and efficient coordinating center unburdened by the huge and cumbersome current bureaucracy chasing goals that cannot be met and at a greatly reduced cost could do the trick.
This could produce a multilateral forum that addresses real problems that can be resolved rather than an institution paralyzed by national objectives that often go against the interests and needs of the global population.
In these days of mass cynicism and doubt in institutions, this might result in an international body that inspires confidence and represents a good investment for global taxpayers.
This is our challenge.
Podcast:
Thank you. Right to the point!
Thank you Eddy, as always, clear and enlightening.