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UN Performance Problems UN Management Accountability Struggles Where is the Rule of Law? Inadequate UN Oversight Recent Developments
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Although they have received only sporadic media attention, the major
multilateral organizations have all had serious recent problems with
performance, accountability, transparency, and corruption issues. Unlike the UN, they have been
forced into undertaking quite significant reforms, both in drastic actions
to reshape their governance and corruption-fighting processes, and to
sanction poor leaders. These organizations,
like the UN, share a common weakness. They are all rather distant from
their publics, connected only by diplomatic or governmental bureaucrats
rather than any elected officials.
However, there is a big difference as well. These other organizations are all
being held much more severely to account for their mistakes and poor
performance than is the UN. As with the corporate
sector, the other multilateral organization controversies and corrective
actions provide useful benchmarks for the dawdling and unaccountable UN in
matters of governance, performance, accountability, transparency,
oversight, and the rule of law.
IO Watch will continue to monitor their often rather startling
developments, and to seek out lessons and initiatives that bear on the
UN's own severe accountability and oversight
problems. In a dynamic global
society, these other international organizations (and NGOs and
multinational corporations) are increasingly direct competitors of the UN
in global economic and social areas.
To the extent that they move forward with management reform and
performance emphases and the UN does not, the downward spiral in the UN's
role and reputation will only
accelerate. Some initial
illustrative quotes and citations are presented below for the World Bank,
the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO),
the European Union (EU), and the International Olympic Committee
(IOC). WORLD
BANK "Calls for fundamental reform of
the Bretton Woods sisters -- the [IMF] and the World Bank -- are hardly
new
but the flow of suggestions is constant.
Conventionally 'internationalist'
administrations
are too inclined to see the IMF and the World Bank as ends in
themselves, as signs of enlightenment and virtue, however much a mess they
make of things. It is quite
right to ask
whether these bodies need to exist at all, exactly what
purpose they are intended to serve, and just how well they are discharging
their duties, whatever they may be. [However, in a new plan]
the
Meltzer Commission ['s main idea is briefly that]
both the Fund and the Bank have
been trying to do far too much
[Their] bosses
have duly
declared themselves committed to sharpening the focus
They always say
that. Almost certainly, if it
means shedding lots of people and seeing their budgets shrink, they don't
mean it. Will [things move in
the right direction?] Maybe
not. Sadly, the [US]
administration may
find it
all too convenient to have a misdirected Fund and Bank do its bidding and
then take the brickbats."
"Reforming the Sisters", The
Economist, February 17th,
2001, pp. 20-21. "The World Bank is in crisis,
struggling to devise a formula for development as critics slam it for
incompetence, inefficiency, and irrelevance. Who to blame? Try bank president James
Wolfensohn, whose personal failings and misguided policies have muddled
the bank's mission and pushed its best staff out the door. But the bank's travails also
underscore the hypocrisy of its rich shareholder nations, who speak
grandly about reducing poverty but stand by as the world's top development
institution falls apart. An
exclusive investigative report
" lead-in paragraph from Stephen Fidler, "Who's minding the Bank", Foreign Policy, September/October 2002, pp. 40-50. [Note: the article ends with an excellent resource guide to recent commissions and books on the World Bank's performance, and links to relevant Web sites.]
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF) "Slammed by
antiglobalist protesters, developing-country politicians, and Noble
Prize-winning economists, the [IMF] has become Global Scapegoat Number
One. But
IMF economists are not evil, nor are they invariably wrong. It's time to
set the record straight and focus on more pressing economic debates, such
as how best to promote global growth and financial stability." lead-in paragraph from Kenneth Rogoff, "The IMF strikes back," Foreign Policy, January-February 2003, pp. 39-46. Note: the above
article is a recent rebuttal, by the IMF's economic counselor, to many
criticisms made of the IMF. It ends with an excellent resource guide
of books with analyses and critiques of the IMF "from the left, right,
center, and outer space"; links to relevant Web sites; and past and
present relevant Foreign Policy articles. "The closest thing we
have had to a world government over the past two-and-a-half decades is not
the United States [although it often so behaves]
Nor is it the United
Nations
still flailing around trying to assert itself as it stumbles into
the 21st century with a structure born of the power politics of 1945. It is rather a
secretive, unelected organization which has been hijacked by
fundamentalists who have thereby gained the opportunity to dictate
economic and social policy to almost every country in the world.
Sounds unlikely,
doesn't it.
If only that were so.
The IMF record in
restoring countries to rude financial health is so appalling that were it
a private corporation selling its advice on the open market it would long
ago have gone bust.
Most people in the
rich world may remain ignorant of the damage being done by the IMF and the
World Bank but in all other parts of the world the protest is
proliferating [see Note below]
When the Bretton Woods organizations were
half a century old the rallying cry was '50 years is enough.' As we reach
the latest anniversary it becomes ever clearer that 60 years has been far
too much." Chris Brazier, "The power and the folly. Unelected, unapproachable, indefensible," New Internationalist 365, March 2004, pp. 9-11. [Note: the article introduces a set of articles, notes, items, and resources, particularly "States of unrest," on the IMF and World Bank, pp. 8-28.] WORLD
TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO) "Some poor countries'
politicians seemed to revel in the collapse of the [WTO's] ministerial
meeting on September 14. Disappointment is the
right reaction.
Why did the talks
collapse?
Who was to blame? And where does the WTO go from here?
. Cancϊn's failure
happened because of intransigence and brinksmanship by both rich and poor
countries; because of irresponsible and inflammatory behaviour by NGOs;
and because of the deeply flawed decision-making system of the WTO
itself.
The WTO
is a
democratic organization that works by consensus, but with no formal
procedures to get there. Any one of the organization's 148
members can hold up any aspect of the negotiations.
Not surprisingly,
this lends itself more to grandstanding than to serious negotiations. The worst
problem, though, is that the WTO's requirement for consensus makes it
virtually impossible for it to be reformed. If the momentum in trade negotiations moves away from
the WTO
[it] would quietly sink into oblivion as a negotiating forum. Everyone would
lose
Cancϊn's collapse
does not make any of these outcomes inevitable, but it does make them much
more likely.
That is why it is such a tragedy." "The WTO under fire: Why did the world trade talks in Mexico fall apart? And who is to blame?," The Economist, September 20th, 2003, pp. 29-31.
EUROPEAN
UNION
(EU) "A [report on
European Commission failings warned Thursday]
that the
European ideal was at risk of being undermined by a 'culture of moral
flexibility and permissiveness' as well as nationalistic reflexes of many
officials.
[A] first part of
[the] report led to the resignation of the entire European Commission in
March. In
that portion, the experts found considerable evidence of corruption and
nepotism.
An extract from the
[new] report dealt
with a need for more specific rules of conduct. The experts also
criticized the culture of secretiveness in the Commission and other EU
institutions, and urged
'a more effective press and information
policy.' 'The public has a
right to know how public institutions use the power and resources
entrusted to them.' they said. Also
proper mechanisms [are needed]
to enable whistle-blowers to come forward and obtain protection. In case of
criminal behaviour, 'there is an unambiguous duty of any civil servant
to report to the appropriate authorities.' Returning to the
theme that brought down the present commission -- the lack of political
responsibility -- the experts said that commissioners should be denied the
chance to shift responsibility for mistakes onto others." Barry James, "Ethical
laxity undermines EU executive body, panel finds," International Herald Tribune, July 23, 1999. "Allegations of
mismanagement and fraud at the Brussels-based [EU] have stirred up a
political maelstrom that is rocking
EU President Romano Prodi. European
Parliament members were already fuming over the revelations -- which
involve everything from secret slush funds and fictitious contracts to the
looting of millions of euros -- but their ire grew when three separate
reports on the scandal delivered to the EU Budget Control Committee failed
to provide a full accounting of the misdeeds. The PM's have good
reason to be displeased. After all, Prodi pledged 'zero
tolerance' for fraud in 1999, when his Commission took power following the
collapse of the previous Jacques Santer administration, under charges of
financial misconduct and nepotism.
. European PM's say
there's ample evidence that early warnings of the troubles
were ignored
at the highest levels. 'They had a killer audit which sat in a
box for three years," says [a PM.] What to do? To safeguard
credibility
Prodi needs to take the offensive.
Second, heads should
roll.
Political accountability is the only way to send a powerful message
to EC members and staff that it's serious about rooting out fraud and
corruption." Gail Edmondson, "Can
Brussels police itself? The Eurostat fraud charges underscore
the need for transparency at the EU," Business Week
International, October 13, 2003, p.
30. "[Mr. Jacques Barrot,
the new EU transport commissioner]
has been in an increasingly untenable
position since Thursday, when [an EU parliamentarian]
disclosed to an
astonished assembly that Mr. Barrot was given an eight-month suspended
prison sentence in 2000 for his role in a party-funding scandal.
The sentence did not
bar him from public office and, because it was erased under a 1995
amnesty, has not created a criminal record.
But Mr. Barrot's
failure to mention the episode
has shown an inability to appreciate the
need for commissioners to be totally candid
to earn the trust of an
increasingly skeptical European public. The Commission itself
has yet to recover from the mass resignation of a previous Commission in
1999 amid allegations of mismanagement, nepotism, and fraud. Moreover
the
conduct of which Mr. Barrot was found guilty is illegal in many member
states. Applicants for [a US
visa] are always asked: 'Have you ever been arrested or convicted for any
offence or crime, even though subject to a pardon, amnesty or other
similar legal action?' These words should be added to the
questionnaires that all future commissioners and high EU officials must
answer." "Barrot must go:
Commissioners must put transparency and candour first", Financial Times (UK), November 23, 2004.
"The European Union's
auditors have [dealt]
another blow to the Union's reputation for
financial management. The Court of Auditors'
report
questions 21.4 million of spending in 2003 and says that one in
five contracts examined was plagued by 'procedural anomalies' and
the
accounts 'do not present a true and fair view of the agency's actual
economic and financial situation.' The picture painted
in the [auditors'] report is of organizational chaos, with too many people
able to authorize projects
project managers frequently being changed
poor record keeping, and money paid out despite invalid or inadequate
documents.
The auditors found
out that the [European Agency for Reconstruction] did not use double-entry
book-keeping, in breach of its regulations.
The report comes
after a fraud scandal, at the Commission's statistical arm, Eurostat. It also
follows the Court of Auditors' refusal in November to approve the
Commission's central accounts for the 10th year in succession. The Commission
has reformed its system for this year, introducing double-entry
book-keeping. The agency
claims
that many of the deficiencies have been rectified over the past year. It has
hired
an internal controller and a procurement overseer." Andrew Bounds, "EU
auditors question Balkans projects", Financial
Times (UK), January 11, 2005. "Many Britons
[regard the European Union as] a
cesspool of corruption
[based on] two big facts
The first is that in
2002 the EU's chief accountant, Marta Andreasen, declared that its
internal financial controls were wide open to fraud -- and was sacked for
her pains.
The second is that the EU's own Court of Auditors has failed to
sign off on its accounts for ten years running.
[Recently, an internal memo from the EU's former chief internal auditor,
Jules Muis,]
called Mrs. Andreasen, a 'focused and determined
professional'
[and] spoke out strongly against
the commission's
tendency to intimidate dissenters. Privately, a senior commission official
now acknowledges that the whole Andreasen affair - which is currently
before the courts - has been grossly mishandled and 'terribly damaging' to
the Commission.
[Blaming]
the European Union's sleazy image
[on]
national governments is far too comforting
The impression of an unaccountable elite playing by
its own rules is perpetuated by
[EU officials' sharp attacks]
on
anyone who rocks the boat.
Mr. Muis says there is
'a reluctance to
disturb the carousel of money that keeps going around.'" "Running away with the money: How corrupt is
Brussels?", The Economist, April 9th, 2005. [Note: The article ends by noting that when an
Austrian member of the European Parliament "caused a scandal by
videotaping MEPs signing for their daily attendance allowance, even on
days when they did no work, Parliament reacted swiftly. It proposed a ban
on journalists ever filming this sacred ceremony."] INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC) "[When Nagano, Japan
won the bid to host the 1998 Winter Olympics, [an angry Salt Lake City
(USA) contingent was]
determined not to lose again. Thus were sown
the seeds of
the Olympic movement['s present crisis]
a maelstrom of
embarrassing revelations that have brought into bold relief a culture of
unchecked corruption and greed within the [IOC]. Over the next four
years, the Salt Lake City group
gave close to $400,000 in inappropriate
'material benefits' to 14 IOC members
[as reported by a commission's
findings] released on Sunday.
At best the
IOC has followed a don't ask-don't tell approach. At worst it is
guilty of top-to-bottom corruption. Last week new
allegations of bribes and improper solicitations emanated from all corners
of the globe.
The IOC invites
suspicions because it is rife with political logrolling and conflicts of
interest.
Can the IOC cleanse itself? Despite the
brave words from Lausanne,
[Juan Antonio] Samaranch's organization answers to no one but itself.
the remaining 112 members
have been weaned in an Olympian culture of greed.
[a successor to Samaranch] could prove to be just as bad. Or worse
" E. M. Swift,
"Special report: Breaking point: Years of greed, corruption have caught up
with the IOC," Sports Illustrated (US), posted
January 27, 1999. "Beijing may be the
odds-on favorite to host the 2008 [Olympic] Games, but the selection
process can be unpredictable - and, often, controversial. In fact, the IOC is trying to recover from its worst
scandal in the past 105 years. In its bid
Salt Lake City officials gave more than $1 million in gifts and cash
Atlanta Olympic representatives
considered providing prostitutes and gifts.
Officials in Sydney admitted offering IOC members from Kenya and Uganda
$35,000 each for their national sports programs
[An expert] says that
IOC members can be susceptible to the blandishments of contending
cities.
"These are not people elected from the popular masses,' [he
says.]
''These are aristocrats with large businesses and other
interests.
The [selection process] has always been about politics and
deals.' Current bidders say this time will be different. The IOC has
passed a 50-point reform program, which includes a ban on all gifts to
voters.
" Adam Piore, "Who gets
the gold?
When the pride of nations is at stake, the road to choosing an
Olympic city is often
bumpy," Newsweek International, February 26, 2001. "Q: You said in
Moscow that you wanted to create a reform commission in 2002. Hasn't the IOC
already reformed itself? A: We reformed
indeed.
However, my purpose will be, and I will appoint a commission in
September, first to see if the 52 reforms we passed in December 1999 are
still valid.
You have to look at if they are working well. What is
imperfect must be improved. What is working badly must be changed,
and what is missing must be implemented, with always the intention to have
further reform and more transparency and more accountability. I think every
organization must review its workings on a regular basis, and we will do
this two years after the reform." "Q & A: Jacques
Rogge: Olympics chief aims to cure sport's 'diseases'," International Herald Tribune, August 9, 2001.
George, Susan, A fate worse than debt: The world financial crisis and
the poor, rev. updated, Grove Weidenfeld, New York, 1990. Griffiths, Peter, The
economist's tale: A consultant encounters hunger and the World Bank,
Zed, London and New York, 2003. Peet, Richard, The
unholy trinity: The IMF, World Bank, and WTO, Strategic Information
Research Development, Kuala Lumpur; Wits University, Johannesburg; and
Zed, New York, 2003.
Pincus, Jonathan R., and Winters, Jeffrey A.,
eds., Reinventing the World Bank, Cornell
University, Ithaca NY (USA), September 2002.
Ayres, Robert L., Banking on the poor: The World Bank and world
poverty, MIT, Cambridge, MA (USA) and London, 1984. Dale, Reginald, "World Bank gets real: For aid,
it learns, money isn't everything," International
Herald Tribune, December 15, 1998. Kahn, Joseph, "World Bank and IMF assailed in
U.S. report", International Herald Tribune,
March 9, 2000. Sanger, David E., "World Bank defends itself to
critics", International Herald Tribune, April
17,2000. "World financial
leaders on defensive:
draft a subdued
agenda for Washington talks", International Herald
Tribune, April 17, 2000. "A time to scale back: The World Bank rethinks
its role in Indonesia", Business Week Europe,
April 17, 2000, pp. 24-25. Kaji, Gautam S., and Mistry, Percy S.,
"Streamline the international financial system", International Herald Tribune, April 18, 2000. "World Bank study admits aid to Africa often
wasted", International Herald Tribune, June 2,
2000. "Reforming the
Sisters", The Economist, February 17th, 2001, pp.
20-21.
Lobe, Jim, "World Bank and IMF
anti-poverty schemes still rile grassroots", One World US, December 14,
2001.
Burgess, John, "IMF
aims to be more than crisis solver: Resisting critics' plans
", International Herald Tribune, January 8, 2000. Peet, Richard, The
unholy trinity: The IMF, World Bank, and WTO, Strategic Information
Research Development, Kuala Lumpur; Wits University, Johannesburg; and
Zed, New York, 2003.
Bird, Graham, "The International Monetary Fund
and developing countries: A review of the evidence and policy options," in
Diehl, Paul F., ed., The politics of global
governance: International organizations in an interdependent world, 2d
ed., Lynne Rienner, Boulder CO and London, 2001, pp. 277-312. Green, Duncan,
"Dogmatists in dark suits: Increase public participation:
it's now
or never", New Internationalist,
January/February 2000, pp. 11-12. Buerkle, Tom, "IMF chief excludes total
redesign", International Herald Tribune, March
29, 2000. Barro, Robert J., "If we can't abolish the IMF,
let's at least make big changes", Business
Week, April 10, 2000, p. 13. Burgess, John, "Accent on poverty battle
suggests a shift at IMF: Protestors are credited with influencing
agenda",
International Herald Tribune, April 19,
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Sisters", The Economist, February 17th, 2001, pp.
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Fischer, Stanley, "What I learned at the
IMF", Issues 2002, Newsweek
International, December 2001, pp. 86-87. Pearlstein, Steven,
"IMF under fire over Argentina: Criticism of fund rekindled amid country's
financial crisis", International
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envoys see possibility of more openness", International Herald Tribune, December 3, 1999. Peet, Richard, The
unholy trinity: The IMF, World Bank, and WTO, Strategic Information
Research Development, Kuala Lumpur; Wits University, Johannesburg; and
Zed, New York, 2003.
"Who needs the
WTO?:
events
make one wonder whether, through no fault of its own,
the global trade body has ceased to be a force for good", Economist, December 4th, 1999, p. 92. Lynch, David A., "The World Trade Organization
(WTO) and trade," A global agenda: Issues before
the 57th General Assembly of the United Nations, in Ayton-Shenker,
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CO, New York, Oxford, 2002. "Whose world is it, anyway?: What the Seattle
debacle means for the future of globalization", Business Week, December 20, 1999. Olson, Elizabeth, "Shell-shocked at the
WTO: After Seattle, 'atmosphere here is depressing'", International Herald Tribune, December 11,
1999. Dahlburg, John-Thor, " Seattle leaves WTO
polarized and paralysed", International Herald
Tribune, December 20, 1999. Dale, Reginald, "Global trade needs a balancing
act", International Herald Tribune, November
27, 2001.
"The WTO under fire:
Why did the world trade talks in Mexico fall apart? And who is to blame?,"
The Economist, September 20th, 2003, pp.
29-31.
"The sleaze in Brussels", Ehrikson, William,
"It's time for the EC to tackle corruption", Business Week Europe, January 25, 1999, p.
26. James, Barry, "Ethical laxity undermines EU
executive body, panel finds", International Herald
Tribune, July 23, 1999. Dickey, Christopher,
"Its time to let in some light: after the mass resignation of Santer and
company, the European Commission is rushing to change its old dark
ways
", Newsweek International,
November 29, 1999, pp. 38-39. Elliott, Michael,
"The end of a really bad year:
is the European
Union up to the tasks it has set itself", Newsweek
International, December 20, 1999. Kaminski, Mathew, "Questions arise over plan to
mend EU Commission", Wall Street Journal
Europe, January 20, 2000. "Europe's neilogistical reforms", Economist, January 22, 2000. "In defense of Romano
Prodi: The EU's boss is being attacked for the wrong reasons", The Economist, December 1, 2001, p. 33. Thomas Fuller, "Prodi
defends agency: Reports find fraud at EU statistics office", International Herald Tribune, September 26,
2003.
E. M. Swift, "Special report: Breaking point: Years of
greed, corruption have caught up with the IOC," Sports Illustrated (US), posted January 27,
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fun and games: A culture of excess and entitlement
", Newsweek International, February 1, 1999, pp.
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optimistic on IOC reform plan", International
Herald Tribune, November 1, 1999. "Not
exactly world-class house cleaning: Critics say the IOC's planned reforms
don't go far enough fast enough", Business Week
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