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The United Nations has failed. As a force for significant political change and a forum where global concerns and problems can be effectively addressed, it has stumbled time and time again, ultimately meeting few of its goals. As an internationalist, this pains me to say as the United Nations is often viewed in positive light by internationalist elements of societies, serving as a sort of utopian world council where at least in theory every nations' voice matters. The success or lack of U.N. programs and affiliated organizations such as UNICEF is not my purpose in this analysis because their viability and future are less cloudy.
The moment when I finally realized that the United Nations was completely broke was a relatively minor event. It was not when the United Nations nearly unanimous decision to push for a peaceful resolution was completely ignored by the United States in the build up to the conflict in Iraq. Nor was it when Iran repeatedly ignored U.N. decrees condemning their nuclear program. The event was when I read that Zimbabwe had been appointed the new chair of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development. If ever there was a nation whose credentials showed the opposite of respect for human rights and responsible sustainable development, it was Zimbabwe. Run by the paranoid dictator Robert Mugabe who views all western governments, but particularly the United Kingdom, as plotting to murder him for his self-ascribed genius and courage, Zimbabwe suffers under one of the most restrictive and brutal regimes in Africa today.
As recently as two decades ago, Zimbabwe was one of the most successful nations in sub-Saharan Africa known as the agricultural "bread basket" of Southern Africa and with a successful national airline and strong infrastructure. Media outlets were modern and reliable and speech was reasonably free. Zimbabwe's majority black population had just won independence in 1980 and the movement's leader, Robert Mugabe, was elected president. Today, however, when Mugabe's political opponents hold meetings, arrests and attacks by police and Mugabe-loyal thugs follow. The country's unemployment rate is greater then 70 percent, inflation usually hovers around 3000 percent, and the people of this former "bread basket" starve as farms are confiscated; owners killed or deported, and lands left to rot. Why Zimbabwe was selected to chair this committee is a complete mystery to most people except the U.N. delegates who for the most part did not seem concerned by the appointment.
Despite the absurdity of this appointment, the United Nations' problems go far beyond Zimbabwe. Yes, the United Nations remains silent while freedoms are ignored in nations such as Zimbabwe and Venezuela but the issues go deeper then that. They go past the allegations of rape and corruption by U.N. peacekeeping forces around the world or the corruption within members of the General Secretariat. The biggest problem is the United Nations' challenge of relevancy. Is the United Nations really relevant in the world anymore? Was it ever? And more importantly: will it, or even should it, ever be in the future? The predecessor of the United Nations, the League of Nations, collapsed because it was not relevant and could not prevent the outbreak of World War II or stem the tide of global injustice.
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I was a little concerned at the beginning that this was another "Get U.S. Out of U.N." rant. I agree however, the U.N. is a deeply flawed institution with an aching need for deep reform. Another salient example of the irrelevance and internal hypocrisy of the U.N. is the membership on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights of the People's Republic of China, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, and the past memberships of Algeria, Syria, Libya, and Vietnam. In 2004 Sudan was elected to the Commission without contest. If we really want this organization to work, we need to be more involved, and force changes to make it work for us and for the world.
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Great article!! You give a very fair analysis of the situation with the UN. One way your goal can be achieved is if special interest groups are thwarted both here and around the world.
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