The United Nations Demise (With Paragraph Breaks)

The United Nations—which was once an organization that functioned as a powerful tool in maintaining world peace, and was also very influential in the spreading of human rights—has become a misled and misused power that has strayed away from its predecessor’s dreams of peace and equality. The U.N.’s constitution states that it exists in order “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small...,” and also in order to create a world where people can “live together in peace with one another as good neighbours…” The U.N. has left these idealistic principals and is now an institution that is plagued with the political agendas from only “large” nations, that (despite its constitution) ignores human rights, and that is also littered by greed and corruption. It is through this tolerance of evil, and also its decision to neglect what is morally right, that has forced the U.N. to have now reached a point of near obsolescence.

The U.N. is primarily controlled by a select group of nations, and this can be seen through its method of decision making. Before taking any action on a given issue, the U.N. must first pass a resolution. This resolution is voted upon by all the members of the U.N. and must receive a majority vote in order to be passed, but any resolution also has the potential to be vetoed by any of the five national security members (France, Germany, Russia, Great Britain, or the U.S.) Since these five nations have the power to veto any resolution, they therefore have the power to prevent the approval of a war. With this power that each of these five nations carry, they also carry the responsibility of presenting a war resolution to the U.N.

It is very rare that a nation other then one of the national security members will propose a resolution that involves military conflict, because in doing so that nation would be asking for military help from other countries that have no national interests involved. Since the only war resolutions proposed are almost always by the five security members, than it can therefore be assumed that the only wars fought under international law are fought only because it is in the interest of one of the five national security members. By examining this process, it becomes obvious that the true power of the U.N. is held by only five nations, and that these five nations have the power to ignore a smaller, or “less advanced,” nation’s rights. This observation shows that the U.N. is in defiance of one of its constitution’s main principals, which is to confirm the equal rights of all nations and peoples, regardless of whether or not they may hold a powerful political influence.

An example of this can be seen in former U.S. President George Bush Senior’s four year term from 1988 to 1992. In 1988, Iraq used chemical weapons against its own people, the Kurds, which was a known violation of U.N. international laws regarding human rights and weapons of war. This action was ignored by the U.N. until Iraq began its invasion of Kuwait in 1992, which at the time was a key supply of oil to the U.S. and other members of the national security council. Since U.S. national interests regarding oil were in jeopardy, George Bush Senior called for an immediate meeting of the U.N., where a resolution of war against Iraq was passed to “protect” Kuwait. Throughout the four years prior to this resolution, the U.N. had ignored the human rights violations Iraq had been committing, and chose to act on them only when the political interests of the security members became involved. It was only until then, four years after Saddam Hussein began his attempt of middle eastern domination, that his efforts were temporarily put to rest. This act of ignoring human rights stands as one of many examples of the U.N.’s refusal to abide by its own constitution.

The U.N. resembles the U.S. congress very much. It is made up of committees that are in charge of issues of common interest, which are then brought before the national security members. One such committee is the Human Rights Commission. This committee has the responsibility to receive complaints about human rights abuses from the peoples of other nations, and then act on those accusations appropriately. The leadership role of this committee has even more responsibility because it has the power to, in essence, “ignore” certain human rights violations, and choose not to research into the complaints brought before the committee. On January 20, 2003, Libya was voted into the leadership role of the Human Rights Commission.

According to a report made by the Libyan League of Human Rights (an organization developed by Libyan citizens) on September 1, 1997, the government of Libya has been, and is in, constant violation of human rights. “For the twenty eighth consecutive year, and ever since the violent overthrow of the Libyan civil Government on 1st September 1969, the Human Rights situation in Libya has continued to worsen every year,” reports the LLHR. Some other accusations made by the LLHR claiming that Libya defies human rights are that “[the Libyan government proceeds in] arbitrary arrest and detention without charge or trial of political detainees, widespread use of torture and deaths in custody after torture, extrajudicial executions and other arbitrary executions, disappearances, excessive use of lethal weapon against civilians etc...”

If these accusations bear any truth at all, then how could Libya become the leader of the Human Rights Commission? The answer is that the U.N. is caught up in a continuous war of power between its members. Africa has sought influence and power in the UN for a long time, and through this seeking of power the African nation’s votes swayed the election in favor of Libya (also an African nation) to become the Human Rights Commission’s next leader. This is a huge problem because, according to BBC's world affairs correspondent Mark Doyle, the leadership role given to Libya attracts “countries with questionable human rights records [who] find it convenient to sign up for membership of the Commission because it gives them a chance to block criticisms of themselves.” By allowing the Human Rights Commission to be composed of nations who willingly infringe upon the international laws of human rights, such governments are therefore also allowed to continue to hold their citizens under oppression. By recognizing this flaw within the U.N, it becomes yet another demonstration of how the U.N. has become an organization that simply turns its head at the site of human rights violations.

Aside from the U.N.’s method of leadership and its obvious, yet constant, dismissal of human rights, the U.N. has also become a largely corrupt organization, stealing money from people who are in dire need of food, clothing, and shelter. To further this point, one needs only to look at the UN’s Oil for Food program. This program, which was developed in 1995, discontinued at the start of the Gulf War II. The suspension of this program has inspired investigation into its financial records.

Iraq’s Oil for Food program was set up in order to use Iraq’s oil supply (which is second in the world to Saudi Arabia) without violating U.N. sanctions on Iraq. The U.N. operated as a bank between the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people. Iraq would sell its oil to the U.N., the U.N. would then turn around and sell that oil to the rest of the world—it should also be known that the U.N. charged a percentage fee at the price of this oil—and by the profit it made the U.N. would then, under theory, administer basic necessities to the Iraqi citizens, which, according to www.freerepublic.com, an estimated 60% of were starving prior the Second Gulf War. The problem with this situation is that Saddam Hussein and his regime have been bankrolled, meaning their government and its army has been funded, by the very organization (the U.N.) that was sanctioning them and who was supposed to be monitoring their regime.

This problem can be seen clearly by looking into the financial history of the Oil for Food Program. Under examination, it has been identified that the money received by the former Iraqi government was not used entirely to support its citizens with food, clothing, and shelter. Instead, the Iraqi Government, as well as the U.N., have used it as their own personal piggy bank. In 2002, and under approval of the Kofi Annan, the government of Iraq was given four million dollars worth of air conditioners, phones, and vehicles under the claim that the purchases would be used in order to support Saddam Hussein’s so-called Ministry of Justice. Also in that same year, Annan signed off on a $50 million bill to supply Baghdad with television and radio systems, mobile broadcasting vehicles, and radio transmission equipment. These supplies helped generate Saddam Hussein’s “propaganda machine” (his system of television news broadcasts given to the Iraqi citizens) that has not only been used in an effort to deceive the Iraqi people, but also to develop Saddam Hussein’s intelligence program. What is perhaps even more ridiculous, is that Annan approved in December of 2002 $20 million used for the funding of Iraq’s Olympic team, which was run by Saddam Hussein’s son, Uday. According to a recent study conducted by Sports Illustrated, “Uday has tortured athletes who disappoint him with beatings and amputations.”

But the U.N. was not simply only benefiting the Iraqi government by this program, the U.N. has also largely benefited from it themselves. The program has overseen billions of dollars worth of oil revenue, and it can be seen that much of this money has gone not to feed the Iraqi people, but rather to supply the U.N. with an income. According to a report published by www.freeruplic.com, “For the first few years the U.N. parked the cash [made through the Oil for Food program] in a French Bank, the Banque Nationale de Paris. More recently, it diversified its funds—currently totaling some $13 billion—among a handful of banks.” As of today, this money has not been used to support the basic needs of the Iraqi people, and it either still sits under U.N. accounts in banks unknown to the rest of the world, or the U.N. has tapped into this money throughout the years at its leisure.

Where has this money gone? Why has this money not been used in order to meet the needs of Iraqi citizens? These are questions that need answering when defending the accusation that the U.N. has “skimmed off the top” of the Oil for Food Program. The U.N., however, provides no bank statements to the public, it attempts not to reveal the names of the banks it uses, and it even refuses to expose the names of the countries that these banks are based in. It is obvious that the UN has indirectly funded the former Iraqi regime, while at the same time dismissing the needs of the Iraqi people, through the Oil for Food program, which wears the deceiving mask of a program used primarily for serving the basic needs of the Iraqi people. The U.N. has taken advantage of this program in a deceitful way that ended up doing the citizens of Iraq more harm then good.

The U.N. is in shambles. It is a fraudulent, morally unacceptable, and devious organization that continues to defy its own constitution. It is used as a political weapon by its members, and no longer makes an effort in the preservation of human rights. By acknowledging this, it can be understood that the U.N. therefore serves no purpose other then to further political agendas from certain nations, while at the same time ignoring cultures who have been mistreated for many years. A simple change in the U.N.’s policy is not the solution to this problem, a revolution in the entire U.N. must take place in order to meet the dreams of its predecessors.

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