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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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A ground-breaking study of
1989 focused on public service accountability
around the world and its base in law:
"One of the
fundamental concerns of the modern state is the manner in which power and
authority are wielded by those who govern in the name of pursuing societal
goals and objectives.
It is obvious that the more society is
administered, the more power is concentrated in the hands of ministers and
public servants. [Through the performance of their
several and various roles as]
crusaders, policy makers, social change
agents, crisis managers, program managers,
public relations experts,
spokespeople
in addition to the traditional functions of
government,
public servants and their ministers have acquired enormous
power. Generally, public
officials and their organizations are considered accountable only to the
extent that they are legally required to answer for their
actions.
Within [a global
context of public concern and political responsibility]
public service
accountability involves the methods by which a public agency or a public
official fulfills its duties and the process by which [it or he/she] is
required to account for such actions. Viewed [in this way, public
accountability is]
a [broader] strategy to secure compliance with
accepted standards and as a means to minimize the abuse of power and
authority."
Joseph G.
Jabbra
and O. P. Dwivedi, eds., Public service
accountability: A comparative perspective, Kumarian, West Hartford, CN
(USA), 1989, pp. 1, 5. [emphasis added.] At that time, the UN was firmly "extra-territorial"
and wrapped in its diplomatic immunity and considerable impunity. But in the
ensuring decade-and-a-half, the UN's overall legal environment, and global
programme involvement, has greatly changed. Traditional, rigid state
sovereignty concepts are being increasingly challenged by individual human
rights issues. New international tribunals prosecute criminal cases, and
the UN advises countries on legal system enhancement. However, it appears less and less likely that
"real-world" justice systems and the fundamental rights of due process and
a fair hearing which apply to all the (non-UN staff) peoples of the world
will soon be established in the UN Secretariat. This dim
prognosis arises from the failed General Assembly management
accountability system, the rise of the "free the managers" process with
its enhanced impunity, the feeble but entrenched Secretariat
"administration of justice" system, and OHRM "monitoring" as directed by
the General Assembly. The processes of the UN's home-made
judicial system would be laughed out (or thrown out) of a real-world court
in most Member States, but they continue on within the Secretariat.) But in fact, "the times they are a-changing." The UN
itself and its top officials have for several years been on the verge of
being sued in national courts, and the traditional veil of UN diplomatic
immunity and impunity has been pierced, especially as the OIOS sends the
cases of UN staff (at least at lower levels) to national courts for
criminal or civil prosecution. The case for finally establishing a fair and
effective UN internal justice system is presently buttressed by the UN's
highly-visible new war crimes tribunals, the international criminal court
now operating, the UN's growing provision of advisory services to
developing national judicial systems, and the tone (if not the
implementation) of the UN transparency and management accountability
policies.
It is also highlighted by UN leaders' increasingly persistent calls
for a renaissance of "moral values" and respect for
individual human rights worldwide. This section will track the emerging efforts to bring
the UN and its abusive and dishonest managers into national courts, as
well as the related global legal initiatives which are continuing to
develop.
For the time being, IO Watch offers the following quotes on the initial halting progress toward
piercing immunity and impunity in the UN and other international
organizations.
"
. International
law -- so reverently invoked, so rarely defined
. Does it
exist?
Some spheres of international behavior (e.g., maritime matters, the
rights of diplomats) are governed by law-like regimes: there are enduring
and widely-adhered-to conventions, and institutions for arbitrating
disputes.
. The phrase
'international law' often is virtually an oxymoron. Law
without a sword to enforce it is mere words, mere admonition or
aspiration. Law must be backed by
coercion legitimized by a political process. The
'international community' has no such process.
. A true
community exists only when there is consensus about certain matters -- the
meaning of freedom, the nature of rights and duties, sources of
legitimacy.
. Rhapsodizing about the U.N. as the 'international community'
incarnate obscures this fact If 'international
law' is defined as what the 'international community' actually does, the
problem deepens. Regarding force, history is clear;
nations do what they think necessary and feasible.
. Eager seizure of
the label 'legal' encourages the fallacy that international law is
explicit and exhaustive
. it puts policy at the mercy of a vague and
volatile consensus of an 'international community' most members of which
are unsuited to serve as ethicists or judges." George F. Will,
"The perils of 'legality': If international law is really law, who enacts,
construes, adjudicates and enforces it?", Newsweek (US), September
10, 1990, p. 25.
[emphasis added.]
"Geneva. "The United Nations Wednesday denied
reports that it briefly suspended a senior official earlier this year for
sexually harassing up to 10 women
. after a disciplinary committee
inquiry into sexual harassment allegations by 10 secretaries
. The United Nations
refuses to disclose [such records, which] underscores the difficulty
individual workers have in pursuing formal complaints when they believe
they have been treated wrongly. Secrecy laws at the
United Nations cover a broad spectrum of regulations but there are no
specific guidelines for what will be made public and what will be kept
under lock and key. U.N. staff are not
allowed to speak to the press on [work-related matters] for example, nor
are they allowed to start any legal proceedings in court without the
permission of the Secretary-General.
. Even if a senior
official is brought to trial, he or she cannot be forced to testify
because of diplomatic immunity. Most senior U.N. officials enjoy the
protective blanket of immunity which can only be revoked by the U. N.
Secretary-General. 'It's an old boy's
club and when you have reached the diplomatic level, they all protect each
other', said one secretary who requested anonymity.'" "U.N. denies sexual
harassment", UPN, May
19, 1994.
"Another week,
another UN scandal
. Why are scandals so
frequent in [global] institutions
. ? What
. makes them so vulnerable to corruption,
inefficiency, and
. personal aggrandisement?
. The first problem
is leadership
. Second,
international
institutions [lack]
accountability
. The third problem
is the weakness of a
law-governed culture.
.
. The UN
Charter [Article 100, states that] 'in the performance of their duties,
the Secretary-General and the staff shall not seek or receive instructions
from any government or from any authority external to the Organization.'
Here, rooted in
idealism, lie the clues to what can go wrong. All too often
the heads of UN [system] agencies
abrogat[ed] to themselves the
prerogatives of a head of government. The head of an
agency became a virtual monarch
playing off the big barons of the world
against each other. The agency's task, in short,
became subordinate to
instincts of self-perpetuation and resistance to
outside scrutiny.
. Sir Brian Urquhart
has [suggested that] no secretary-general should serve more than one term
in office. [this]
. would
remove electioneering and diminish the incentive to patronage. It
would be
a start." "Perri 6 and Michael Sheridan, "A world order of scandal and graft: What is it about international agencies that invites corruption ?", The Independent (UK), May 11, 1995. [emphasis added]
"A U.N. panel
investigating the 1994 genocide in Rwanda reported today that [United
Nations] incompetence, coupled with the political paralysis of the United
States and other major powers, led to the failure to stop the murder of as
many as 800,000 Rwandans. The panel also said
that [recent] apologies by world leaders, including President Clinton and
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, were inadequate. 'The United Nations
failed the people of Rwanda during the genocide in 1994,' the panel
concluded.
. The 57-page report
. is highly critical of Annan, who was head of the United Nations
peacekeeping department in 1994, and his principal deputy, Iqbal
Riza.
. According to the
U.N. report, [they] ignored a U.N. commander in Africa, Lt. Gen. Romeo
Dallaire of Canada, who had repeatedly warned that mass murder was being
planned
He sought authorization
. to use force to disarm the plotters. But
[they informed him] that he had neither the mandate nor the means.
.
.. the United
Nations had not acknowledged its failure before.
. The report comes
shortly after
. a similarly self-critical [UN] account of its failure to
prevent the killing of thousands of Muslims in the Bosnian village of
Srebrenica." Colum Lynch, "Genocide panel faults U.N. for Rwanda tragedy", Washington Post, December 17, 1999. "
. Mr. Michael
Hourigan and Mr. Geoffrey Robertson
. are preparing to sue the [United
Nations] on behalf of two Rwandan women who lost family members in the
[Rwanda genocide of 1994]. The women say UN
peacekeepers sent to protect their families either handed them over to the
rampaging Hutu militants or ran away when fighting broke out. [The UN spokesman
for Secretary-General Kofi Annan] said the organization did not believe
that it had anything to answer for in the courts, and he warned that any
legal action could compromise peacekeeping operations.
. A UN official later said
the organization would exercise its immunity if the matter got to a
court.
. Mr. Hourigan was an
investigator with the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and
uncovered diplomatic cables sent to UN headquarters warning of the
impending genocide months before the killings began. An independent [UN
inquiry criticized]
. Mr. Annan and other senior UN
officials for failing to sound the alarm earlier.
. The {Security
Council] met while the killings were continuing, and voted to reduce
rather than increase its military presence." Mark Riley, "UN to
seek immunity on Rwanda", Sydney Morning Herald
(Australia), January 12, 2000.
[emphasis added.] "Reports of transgressions
perpetrated by the United Nations are routine, from Peru to East Timor to
Kosovo.
Not a day ticks by that some new story doesn't surface detailing
the United Nations' mishandling of operations or outright abuse.
Thus far the United Nations
has escaped sanction. That may soon change. Suit has been filed
on behalf of two Rwandan women who charge the United Nations with
complicity in the 1994 genocidal massacre of 800,000 Tutsi people
U. N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan
conceded with 'deep remorse' that the U.N.
had failed to respond appropriately to the genocide. Annan was
head of U.N. peacekeeping operations at the time
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, documents indicate that
Annan ignored warnings of genocide sent to
New York Headquarters by
General Romeo Dallaire of Canada. The cables Dallaire sent under "most
immediate" status
requested additional troops and
[reported] that
government controlled radio was 'exhorting' the population to destroy all
Tutsis.'
Annan did not forward the cabled information to the U.N. Security
Council. This suit and others serve
as stark reminders that the U.N. and its agencies are not infallible or
even consistently trustworthy.
" Mary Jo Anderson, "Who polices the U.N. police," WorldNet Daily, February 2, 2000. [emphasis added.] "Une association de
survivants, Les Meres de Srebrenica, a porte plainte, vendredi 4 fevrier,
devant le Tribunal penal international pour l'ex Yougoslavie (TPIY) contre
des responsible et l'ONU, dont Kofi Annan, qu'elle accuse de complicite
lors des massacres de juillet 1995 de plus de 7 000 civils apres l'entrιe
des Serbes du general Mladic dans l'enclave musselmane bosniaque, alors
sous la protection formelle des Nations unies. Leur plaint
vise notamment l'ex-secretaire general de l'ONU Boutros Boutros-Ghali, son
successeur Kofi Annan, a l'epoque coordinateur des missions de paix de
l'ONU, l'emissaire de l'ONU en ex-Yougoslavie, Yasuhi Akashi,
et les
generals francais et brittanique de l'ONU (Forpronu)
Les Meres de
Srebrenica cohabitant voir le TPI inculper les responsible de l'ONU en
complicite de crimes de guerre, 'genocide and crimes contre
l'humanite'.
Refusant de commenter la plainte, le porte-parole du secretaire
general de l'ONU, Fred Eckhard, a releve que 'le procureur [du TPI] est la
seule autorite qui puisse entamer une enquete ou les poursuites
d'individus devant le tribunal." "Des survivants de
Srebrenica portent plainte contre Kofi Annan," AFP, Le Monde, 6/7 fevrier
2000.
"How not to 'UN internal reform
has done little to solve what staff see as the real problems of the
Organization.
The U.N. has concentrated mainly on cutting staff costs,
increasingly awarding temporary contracts -- some 'temps' have been with us for 15
years.
[However]
. the combination of management incompetence, job
insecurity and overwork have created a workforce beset by stress, jealousy
and fear, all of which diminish the cost-effectiveness of 'human
resources.'
. The U.N. does not
apply its own international conventions on, say, collective bargaining, on
the technical grounds that not being a state, it cannot sign them. Where there's no
will, there's no way. However, even if the U.N. really couldn't sign the conventions
securing basic rights
. it could still consider committing
itself to applying them and, to prove its good faith, even designate an
independent tribunal as the ultimate arbiter. But let's
stop daydreaming. 'Staff effectively
surrender their labour rights when they join [the U.N. They are] not
covered by [national] labor law, and, in the event of a dispute with their
employer are obliged
. to appeal through the internal justice system,
which is administered by that same employer." Eric Blair, "From
our man in Absurdistan", UN Special (Geneva),
March 2000, p. 31; the quoted material is excerpted from a letter by Nigel
Lindup, a UN-Geneva staff representative, printed in the February 18, 2000 issue of The Guardian Weekly (UK).
[emphasis added.]
"The relation of
international organizations with national courts [and] tribunals is an
area which demands renewed attention and critical clarification. The World Bank's
Bangladesh Country Office has [sought full immunity from legal process
with the Government]
through the WB's Articles of Agreement
[The move
appears]
prompted by a lawsuit filed by a former official whose services
were terminated in 2001
in Dhaka. A number of
international civil society coalitions
focus the following aspects of
reform the World Bank should undergo internationally. 1. A UN-mandated
investigation into the accountability of the international financial
institutions involved in various projects
2. The
establishment of a human rights evaluative body for World Bank projects
3.
Liberalization of World Bank policies regarding access to
information.
The traditional
notion of immunity has undergone a radical change. The era of human rights
challenges the very practice of granting blanket immunity to any
institution or individual for grave acts or conducts.
Perhaps the most
promising idea
would exclude reasonable claims from immunity but would shield
the organization from unfounded claims that threaten their existence or
interfere with their core functions.
" A. H. Monjurul
Kabir, "Blanket immunity for the World Bank?," www.dailystarnews.com/law , July 21, 2002.
[emphasis added]
"A serious impediment to the
success of any anti-corruption strategy is a corrupt
judiciary. An officially compromised judiciary
means that the legal and institutional mechanism designed to curb
corruption, however well-targeted, efficient or honest, remains
crippled.
Unfortunately, evidence is steadily and increasing surfacing of
widespread corruption in the courts in many parts of the world. To confront the problem,
the UN is taking a variety of approaches. It is examining judicial corruption in
detail, and seeking to identify means of addressing it both in higher and lower
levels of court systems. The objectives of
strengthening judicial integrity are to: ?
Design practical
approaches which will result in better judicial conduct and raise public
confidence in the rule of law. ?
Define judicial
accountability and devise ways to introduce that concept without
compromising the principle of judicial independence. ?
Facilitate a
learning environment in which judges can be exposed to tested practices
for judicial reform, management of change and the strengthening of the
rule of law; and ?
Raise awareness
regarding the level of corruption in the judiciary, the proof that an
anti-corruption strategy can and does work and the role of judges in
combating corruption." "Strengthening the
integrity of the Judiciary," Excerpt from "Judicial Group on Strengthening
Judicial Integrity," Record of First Meeting, Vienna Austria, April 2000, UNODCCP, Global Programme Against
Corruption, at www.undcp.org/corruption_judiciary.html
[emphasis added.] "II.
Recommendations 2.1 Suggestions
for action 2.l.l. Addressing
Systemic Causes of Corruption
(3) Monitor: There is a
need to establish in every jurisdiction an institution, independent of the
judicature itself, to receive, investigate and determine complaints of
corruption allegedly involving judicial officers and court
staff.
Such an institution should include serving and past judges. It should
possibly have a wider mandate and, where appropriate, be included in a
body having a more general responsibility for judicial appointments,
education and action or recommendation for removal from office."
(5) Codes of
conduct:
There is a need for the adoption of judicial codes of
conduct, for the inclusion of instruction in such codes in the
education of new judicial officers and for information to the public about
the existence and provision of such codes against which the conduct of judicial officers may be
measured.
(6)
Adherence: There is a need
for newly
appointed judicial officers formally to subscribe to such a judicial code
of conduct and to agree, in the case of proved [serious] breach
to
resign from judicial or related office." Excerpt from "Judicial Group on Strengthening Judicial Integrity," Record of First Meeting, Vienna Austria, April 2000, UNODCCP, Global Programme Against Corruption, at www.undcp.org/corruption_judiciary.html
"The point is
simple but urgent: all of the international human rights law in the world
will not amount to much without the means to enforce this law.
the victims of
human rights abuses have a much greater incentive to pursue those who
commit human rights abuses than does
any state
states have enormous
difficulties in acknowledging their own wrongdoing.
criminal
prosecutions alone have not and will not provide the solution.
individual
victims have no effective means to enforce their rights.
the
international community should begin to think about creating an
International Civil Court.
such a court
would allow victims to bring a civil suit in an international forum
against those officials who directed or carried out atrocities against
them.
In the field
of international law states have 'given' individuals a panoply of human
rights.
Unfortunately, [they] have not provided any effective means
by which individuals can enforce 'their' rights. In practice,
this has meant that states have taken away the rights that they have given
An
International Civil Court is premised on the simple idea that individuals
should (finally) be empowered to enforce their own rights." Mark Gibney, "On
the need for an International Civil Court," The
Fletcher Forum of World Affairs (US), vol. 26:2, Summer/Fall 2002, pp. 47-58. "The Argentine
Congress voted last month to annul two statutes aimed at halting criminal
prosecutions against military officers. These 'impunity laws,' in essence, had
granted a blanket amnesty for human rights abuses committed by the
military during their rule. Annulling them is intended to
re-establish the rule of law, and may have far-reaching consequences for
countries that have gone through similar experiences. The 'impunity laws' have
been widely reproved internationally. The Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights has consistently condemned measures depriving
victims of any remedy to vindicate their rights in courts.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (to whose
jurisdiction Argentina and two dozen Latin American countries are subject)
affirmed that widespread,
systematic and state-sponsored violations of human rights should be
prosecuted. It also held that states were bound to
abstain from blanket amnesties. Thus the Argentine Congress
. was
merely carrying out its international obligations.
. seizing the
opportunity to hold proper trials once again gives Argentina another
chance to come to terms with its past, and to establish a stronger
foundation on which to build its future." Caesar Chelala and Alejandro M. Garro, "Impunity laws: Argentina seeks to confront its dark past", International Herald Tribune, September 30, 2003. [emphasis added] "During six years
as president of Liberia, Charles Taylor stole $100 million. Taylor is one
of a fraternity of leaders
. who looted a significant portion of their
nation's wealth. Some progress has
been made to prevent such larceny. Three years ago, a group of the world's
leading banks agreed on standards to prevent money laundering
. Officials who take
over after a corrupt dictator's death or flight often inherit a government
looted down to the light bulbs. In such chaos it is hard to prepare a
trail of evidence which can stand up in U.S. or European courts and resist
challenges from top lawyers paid with the same dirty money nations seek to
recover.
The world can help
with a treaty, or common set of laws, on money laundering
. Jack Blum, a
Washington investigator, suggests creating an international nonprofit
agency to handle asset recovery. It would need a large initial loan but
would later be self-financing, taking its expenses from proceeds
recovered.
A global group would solve the problem of how looted countries can
find and pay for expertise, and it would insulate investigations from
political interference." "Recovering the loot", International Herald Tribune, September 30, 2003.
IO Watch believes that the above quotes illustrate
the awkward nature of the UN's enthusiastic promotion of international law
and human rights even as it firmly maintains its own senior officials'
impunity. A few final quotes illustrate the solicitous attention of UN
leaders to policies and principles of international justice, and further
underline the UN Secretariat's determination to continue living in a world
of public rhetoric rather than addressing the UN Secretariat's own legal
deficiencies and exempt status.. "Saturday, July 18,
was indeed a historic day. As I stood in the Campidoglio in Rome, it was
my privilege to hand over to the Italian government the statute of the
future International Criminal Court.
Until now, when
powerful men committed crimes against humanity, they knew that so long as
they remained powerful, no earthly court could judge them.
Now at last, thanks
to the hard work that went into the Rome conference, we shall have a
permanent court to judge those accused of genocide and other comparable
crimes, wherever and whenever they may be committed.
In this year of the
50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we have
taken a monumental step forward in the march toward universal human rights
and the rule of law." Kofi Annan, "At
last, a court to deter despots and defend victims," International Herald Tribune, 29 July 1998.
"Secretary-General
Kofi Annan has proposed that a war crimes tribunal should prosecute minors
as young as 15 for atrocities in Sierra Leone's civil conflict. The proposal has
met strenuous opposition from the UN Children's Fund, Human Rights Watch
and other advocacy groups. They argue that trying minors would set
a dangerous legal precedent and could undermine efforts to rehabilitate an
estimate 5,400 child combatants in Sierra Leone. These children are
first and foremost victims," said Alfred Ironside, a spokesman for UNICEF.
Mr. Annan
acknowledged that prosecuting children presented a 'difficult moral dilemma'
for the United Nations. But in view of the 'horrific' conduct
of child soldiers in Sierra Leone
they could not automatically be
excluded from the court's jurisdiction, he said." Colum Lynch, "Annan
seeks to try minors for war crimes," International
Herald Tribune, October 7-8, 2000.
[emphasis added.] "The International
Criminal Court will soon come into being
so it may
seem strange that in February, after more than four years of talks, the
United Nations Secretary-General decided to withdraw from negotiations
with the Cambodian government on establishment of a court to try the
leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime.
[In] our
discussions
the issue became whether the UN could participate in a
national court as envisaged by the government
When
it appeared that
the UN was being asked to be part of a court that would fall short of
necessary international standards of independence, impartiality and
objectivity, the secretary-general decided to end UN
participation. He
strongly
believes that the UN
should not be part of a court that would fail to provide victims
with
the credible justice they deserve. In addition, UN affiliation to such a
court could set a precedent for lowering international standards. we made assiduous
efforts to develop a Cambodian court
that would meet
international standards of justice.
Under the
[proposed] scenario, the
United Nations name would have been attached to a judicial process over
which it would have had little or no control." Hans Corell, "No justice for victims of the Khmer Rouge: Why the UN backed off," International Herald Tribune, 19 June 2002. [emphasis added] [Note: The author
was until 2004 the UN Under-Secretary General for legal affairs.]
"A British tribunal
has ruled that a former member of the UN police force in Bosnia was
unfairly fired after she reported to her superiors that colleagues in the
police force used women and children as sex slaves in connivance with
Balkan traffickers. It was at least the
third scandal this year involving international aid workers and vulnerable
local populations.
the whistle
blower, Kathryn Bolkovac, an American citizen
charged that she was fired
in 2000 for sending e-mails to her employer, DynCorp, [charging links
with]
prostitution rings.
the UN Mission in Bosnia and
Herzegovina said the mission was not commenting because it was not a
party to the British legal action. The UN has also
disclosed that a crime syndicate infiltrated the UN refugee commissioner's
office in Nairobi and extorted money from asylum seekers for services that
should have been provided free. Kofi Annan, the
secretary-general of the UN, has said that there would be zero tolerance
for such acts. Bolkovac said she was
delighted with the tribunal's findings because it would help her gain more
international exposure for the problem posed by corrupt
peacekeepers." Barry James, "Whistleblower upheld in UN Bosnia police case: Firing of former officer unfair, court rules," International Herald Tribune, August 8, 2002. [Note: IO Watch can only applaud, because this was the first time anywhere that it has found reference to an actual, successful whistleblower in any UN document or article on the UN. The secret to her right to sue in a court of law, and win, of course, was that she was employed by a UN contractor, not by the UN itself.] In September 2004, however, and as noted at various
other places in this section and archive, Secretary-General Annan issued a
strong warning to the General Assembly about weaknesses in the
international rule of law and the need to build and ensure its
legitimacy. [UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan] appealed to world leaders yesterday to rally
behind the rule of international law, warning that global standards were
being shamelessly disregarded and selectively applied.
Today the
rule of law is at risk around the world, he told the UN General Assembly
in New York. This [international] framework is riddled with gaps and
weaknesses.
It lacks the teeth
that turn a body of law into an effective legal system. Many feel
that it is not always used fairly or effectively; those invoking it do not
always practice what they preach. This years
assembly comes as leaders start to lock horns on the tortuous question of
UN reform, a debate upon which Mr. Annan has pinned his and his
organisations future. Mr. Annan warned
that the systems legitimacy was at stake. Just as within a country respect for the law depends
on the sense that all have a say in making and implementing it, so it is
in our global community. All must feel that international law
belongs to them, and protects their legitimate interests. His speech
reflected an organisation facing a sense of crisis.
Mark Turner, Annan says global rule of law is at risk. Financial Times (UK), September 24, 2004. IO Watch also wishes to note a considerable change in
the day-to-day practice and realities of diplomatic immunity. Over the
past half-century, as the number of nations worldwide has jumped to some
200 and international organizations have added thousands of staff,
traditional diplomatic status, privileges, and immunities have
increasingly been tarnished, as nicely indicated in the following
summary:
The abuse of
diplomatic privileges seems to be growing. Although it most often
[gets media
attention] in cases involving crimes, traffic accidents or sequestering
domestic employees, its use in divorce suits is not unknown and may be
increasing.
Many poor countries
sell their citizenship and diplomatic posts. An Internet
search reveals many opportunities to purchase ambassadorial and other
positions that confer diplomatic immunity. Some argue that poor countries lack
qualified personnel and need help
but it has nothing to do with selling
governmental offices for the right price. It is widely agreed
that diplomatic immunity is limited to acts carried out while diplomats
are performing their official functions
not for the personal advantage
of the diplomat. Yet when it comes to
. [improper use]
even while
lamenting the abuse, governments are lethargic. Like all
large institutions, they move only when hounded. Existing treaties impose a
clear duty
to waive
[diplomatic immunity] when official acts are not
involved.
Yet under international law, individuals cannot compel enforcement
of these treaties. Unless one of the governments [or
international organizations] acts,
[litigants have only a right with no
hope of a remedy.] Ronald P. Sokol, Falling into a black hole of diplomatic immunity, International Herald Tribune, August 14-15, 2004. In conclusion, IO Watch must note that Mr. Corell
(see the citation above of 19 June 2002) was, and the staff of the UN
Office of Legal Affairs staff are, major participants in the UN internal
justice system, as forceful "Respondents" versus the staff applicants to
the UNAT in the UN's UN's homemade and defective "judicial"
processes.
One can only hope that, someday, the OLA can make similar
"assiduous efforts" to establish a credible UN internal justice system
that functions properly, and also allows UN staff access to a national
court that meets the "international standards of independence,
impartiality and objectivity", which the present UN internal justice
system most emphatically does not. IO Watch also hopes that someday Secretary-General
Annan (see the above citation of October 7-8 2000) will eventually also
recognize a long-standing "difficult moral dilemma" in the lack of human
rights for "his" UN staff, and take corrective action to finally make the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights truly universal and provide the UN
with an "effective legal system" (the citation of September 24, 2004
above). |
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