The United Nations on the Rocks
Yesterday the UN held a special session commemorating the liberation of the Nazi death camps - the first event of its kind in 60 years. Haaretz reports that
It seems that the event did not result from a popular vote by the General Assembly at all. Rather, it was inspired by letters sent to Kofi Annan in December from member nations (primarily the US and European nations) resulting in a Press Release on January 11 in which "The Secretary-General is pleased to announce that a majority of Member States have now agreed to the request ...". Moreover, The New York Times points out that the full roster of supporters is confidential. Why? Is it so very shameful to publicly condemn the mass murder of Jews?
Sadly, in parts of the world, the answer is yes.
The real story is that this Special Session came about because Annan pushed for it. The US invasion of Iraq made the UN look powerless and irrelevant. Now with scandals rocking the UN, from the Oil for Food fiasco, to the behaviour of peacekeepers in the Congo, to the behaviour of Annan's senior administrators, the Secretary General sees the writing on the wall. Yesterday's event, and the recent replacement of anti-US bureaucrats, are desperate attempts to build some moral authority.
An impressive 156 of the 191 member nations voted in favor of holding the session, and UN officials were pleased to point out that countries such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Jordan and Egypt were among those in favor.A sea change for the UN? Hardly. Curious to discover the identities of the 35 nations not supporting the event, I searched a little in UN press releases and General Assembly resolutions.
It seems that the event did not result from a popular vote by the General Assembly at all. Rather, it was inspired by letters sent to Kofi Annan in December from member nations (primarily the US and European nations) resulting in a Press Release on January 11 in which "The Secretary-General is pleased to announce that a majority of Member States have now agreed to the request ...". Moreover, The New York Times points out that the full roster of supporters is confidential. Why? Is it so very shameful to publicly condemn the mass murder of Jews?
Sadly, in parts of the world, the answer is yes.
The real story is that this Special Session came about because Annan pushed for it. The US invasion of Iraq made the UN look powerless and irrelevant. Now with scandals rocking the UN, from the Oil for Food fiasco, to the behaviour of peacekeepers in the Congo, to the behaviour of Annan's senior administrators, the Secretary General sees the writing on the wall. Yesterday's event, and the recent replacement of anti-US bureaucrats, are desperate attempts to build some moral authority.
- sheikh X at 9:48 AM
2 Comments:
The full roster is probably confidential because the memeber nations who did NOT particpate are both powerful and embarrassed, and don't want their lack of participation to be public knowledge. Otherwise, they could pull financial support.
Just a guess. (Thanks for visiting my site at The Crazy Woman.)
Thanks for the comment Deborah. You are right of course, the secrecy is probably to protect the identities of the nations not supporting the measure. Actually I'm pretty amazed that given that support was to be given in confidence, not more countries backed it.
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