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May 02, 2005
UN Problems
More allegations of UN abuse of innocents in Liberia. The Jerusalem Post reports,
UN peacekeepers sexually abused and exploited local women and girls in Liberia and more accusations are expected, a UN spokesman said Friday.Stephane Dujarric said a preliminary investigation by the UN mission in Liberia indicated that some allegations against its personnel could be substantiated, while others could not.
In related news an editorial in The Japan Times (via junkyardblog) argues that
So the goal of all free countries should be that only other free countries are allowed seats on the Commission for Human Rights. Regimes that are "partly free" or "not free" should never be elected or appointed, for the only governments with the moral legitimacy to review and criticize human rights records are those that came to power through free elections and that can lose power when a new election defeats them. Those who have attained power through violence and fraud are not legitimate and should never cast more shame on the U.N. by belonging to this commission.
I am not sure if it is possible to fix the UN, but I think we should make an effort to drain this cesspool of corruption before completely giving up on it. The reforms the editorial suggests are a good start, but are way short of what is needed to completely fix what is wrong with the UN. Forinstance they will not stop the systemic abuses talked about in the Post article because there are currently no real consequences when UN troops abuse civilians. Brian Preston argues that it is too late and we need to instead just give up and start again with a new institution. He writes,
we're too far down that track for the UN to be meaningfully reformed--at least, without dismantling just about everything it does and starting over. And as long as we're doing that, why not just make it a Council of Democracies instead? Free people in, tyrannies out.
Posted by Pete at May 2, 2005 07:00 PM
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