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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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"Imagine if U.S. troops were
accused of sexually exploiting children in impoverished nations
a U.S. Cabinet Secretary were
accused of groping a female subordinate, [but then exonerated]
by the
president
. [an agency head]
and the president's
own offspring stood accused of complicity in [a massive embezzlement
racket]
[These things happened in the UN
this year.] Where's the outrage?
Why
didn't the mainstream
devote more attention to these scandals? Far from
demanding high-level resignations, they are circling the
wagons. The U.N.'s friends are doing
no favors with this knee-jerk defense. Even [Kofi] Annan recognizes [the
problems with his 1997 and 2002 management reform attempts, and reports
on [Yet] all the
reformistas' efforts founder on the rocks of apathy and inertia.
Most of the U.N.'s 191 member states
[and] 49,000 employees
have other
priorities. Flawed as it is, the UN does some useful things
Leaving the U.N.
is unrealistic. But it will never live up to the
grandiose expectations of its starry-eyed supporters, unless they get mad
enough to demand real change. So far there's no sign of that
happening." Max Boot, "Why U.N. stays mired in its defects: Start
with too-friendly media, apathy and members' entrenched interests", Los Angeles Times, "A debate currently rages about whether Kofi Annan
enjoys the moral authority to lead the United Nations because the Oil for
Food scandal happened under his command.
[But] the salient indictment of Mr.
Annan's leadership is lethal cowardice, not corruption; the evidence is
genocide, not oil.
10 years ago, [in
Most of the U.N.'s armed troops [had] evacuated
abandoning vulnerable civilians to their fate, which included, literally
the worst things
a human being can do to another human being. [In] Srebrenica ten years ago, thousands of Muslim
civilians [sought]
shelter at a U.N. base. But Serb
militias separated the men and boys
and put them on buses. Armed Blue
Helmeted U.N. Peacekeepers -- tasked under Mr. Annan's leadership to
protect them in this U.N.-declared 'Safe Area" watched passively.
Across
the street [now] lies a new cemetery and memorial for the 8,000 fallen men
of Srebrenica.
If anyone's values have been betrayed at the U.N.
over the years it is those of us who believe most deeply in the
organization's ideals. Just ask the men and women of
Kenneth L. Cain, "The real reason Kofi Annan must
go", Wall Street Journal, WSJ.com, Opinion
Journal, December 21, 2004. [Note: Mr. Cain served in U.N. peacekeeping
operations in "Isolated diplomatically over
Two interrelated crises
have now brought the UN
not only to impotence (a regular occurrence), but to institutional
meltdown under Kofi Annan. The 9/11 attacks
created a new kind of threat to
world order
The UN Security Council is a forum for the big players to
settle their differences, eyeball to eyeball. You can't do
that with Osama bin Laden.
The other new crisis is the descent of the permanent
UN bureaucracy into wholesale corruption. There has always been petty sleaze, but
it was accelerated vastly by the UN's oil-for-food programme
Annan is the first secretary general to be recruited
from the ranks of the UN permanent staff. As such, he
is more prone to defend
his bureaucrats from outside criticism.
The best solution is a new secretary general
perhaps a former prime minister or president -- who carries respect in the
major world capitals." George Kerevan, "Has impotent UN finally outlived its
usefulness?", The Scotsman, "Can Kofi Annan survive? The
secretary-general of the United Nations has just finished what he himself
admits was an annus horribilis for his organization. Now an
American-led campaign to unseat him is probably closer to its goal than
ever.
Although Mr. Annan is unlikely to be directly
implicated in any personal corruption [in the UN's much-criticised
oil-for-food programme in More troubling could be his son's links to Cotecna, a
Swiss-based company that monitored imports of humanitarian aid into
Meanwhile,
there are grumbles from
This week [Mr. Annan] announced that Mark Malloch
Brown, the media-savvy head of the [UNDP]
is to take over as his chief
of staff
But he will need to draw on all Mr. Malloch Brown's presentational
skills if he is to mount an effective defense to the Volcker report." "Kofi creamed: The secretary-general is under
increasing pressure to quit", The Economist,
"
[Secretary-General Kofi] Annan is doing the right
thing by planning further management changes
Major shakeups are needed
in critical areas like peacekeeping and refugee assistance.
. Helping the poor and desperate
demands
strengthening the management of peacekeeping operations. Some kind of
appalling nadir was reached last month with reports that members of an
international contingent of UN peacekeepers in Sweeping changes are also needed at the UN refugee
agency
Not only has the current high commissioner, Ruud Lubbers,
performed uninspiringly, but his relations with his staff have been
embittered by a charge of sexual harassment.
Although
the complainant withdrew formal charges and Lubbers says
he intends to finish his term, which ends in December. He should be
asked to leave now. Given the unremitting hostility of the
Bush administration, the survival of the United Nations as an effective
organization cannot be taken for granted. Annan will have to challenge the
self-protective bureaucracy more radically than it has ever been
challenged."
"Housecleaning at the UN", International Herald Tribune, "The man appointed to oversee a management shake-up
at the United Nations has warned that it must brace itself for
wide-ranging reform
'The crisis is still building,' [Mark]
Malloch Brown said. 'It's very hard after [last] week's revelations to
believe there isn't going to be some pretty tough stuff on management.'
Paul [Volcker's group] last week criticized the UN
for its limited response to internal audits showing irregularities in the
$65 billion [
Mr. Malloch Brown also warned that it was no longer
only the institution's traditional, conservative critics that were calling
for a shake-up. Mr. Volcker also claimed the volume of allegations
surrounding the former [head of the At the end of January Mr. Volcker will issue his
preliminary findings. 'That may be a transition point', Mr. Malloch
Brown said
'It should be a mainstream preoccupation of every
government share holder of the UN.' ,,, A reshuffle of Mr. Annan's cabinet would take place
within six weeks, maybe sooner, he said.
The management shuffle would be followed by 'human
accountability' reforms addressing other recent scandals." Mark Turner, "UN warned to get ready for sweeping
reforms", Financial Times
( "The General Assembly
6. Emphasizes the importance of establishing real,
effective and efficient mechanisms for responsibility and
accountability; 7. Regrets that despite previous information provided by
the Secretary-General on the establishment of accountability
mechanisms, including the accountability panel, such
mechanisms are not in place, thereby affecting the efficient and effective
functioning of the Organization;" "Review of the implementation of General Assembly
resolutions 48/218B and 54/244: Report of the Fifth Committee", UN
document A/59/649 of "Review of the implementation of General Assembly
resolutions 48/218B and 54/244", General Assembly resolution 59/272 of
"[In my view,]
the UN is constitutionally incapable
of conducting any operation efficiently or honestly. Ideally the
UN, foreshadowing a future world government, ought to be run by a global
meritocracy -- rule by the best. In practice, it is the opposite. Any
state that can be legally defined as one can join the UN -- it is a club
having no rules of probity or morals.
The result is failure and graft. UN officials
are not answerable to bodies like Congress or the
But will any punishment be meted out? Will any
serious reforms be pushed through? Of course not.
the UN is beyond
reform until membership is restricted to civilized powers that practice
democracy and the rule of law and hold their rulers responsible for their
actions." Paul Johnson, "The UN is for talk, not actions," Forbes (US), [Note: Mr. Johnson is an 'eminent British historian and author."] "The General Assembly
6. Emphasizes the
importance of establishing real, effective and efficient mechanisms for
responsibility and accountability; 7. Regrets that despite previous information provided by
the Secretary-General on the establishment of accountability
mechanisms, including the accountability panel, such
mechanisms are not in place, thereby affecting the efficient and effective
functioning of the Organization;" "Review of the implementation of General Assembly
resolutions 48/218B and 54/244: Report of the Fifth Committee", UN
document A/59/649 of "Review of the implementation of General Assembly
resolutions 48/218B and 54/244", General Assembly resolution 59/272 of 23 December 2004, paras. 6-7.
[emphasis added] "Today I shall be presenting my report, "In Larger
Freedom" to the United Nations General Assembly.
I wanted to remind the governments of the world, who
put me in my job and to whom I am accountable, that
they are in the UN to represent not themselves but their peoples, who
expect them to work for the [UN Charter's]
aims These aims can be summarized as peace, human rights,
justice and development
Of course, the UN often falls far short of these
noble aspirations, since it reflects the realities of world politics
The UN
can be a much more effective instrument if
its governing body, the General Assembly, is better organized and gives
clearer directives to us in the secretariat, with the flexibility to carry
them out, and holds us clearly accountable for how we do it.
I shall today propose decisions in all
areas, and challenge world leaders to
respond with action at the
UN summit in September.
... If world leaders rise to
their responsibilities, the rebirth and renewal of the UN will be
just beginning - and with it, renewed hope for a freer,
fairer, and safer world." Kofi Annan, "An aspiration to a larger freedom", Financial Times ( "C. The Secretariat 184. A capable and effective Secretariat is
indispensable to the work of the United Nations.
In 1997 I
launched a package of structural reforms
and followed up with a further
set of managerial and technical improvements in 2002
185.
But these reforms do not go far
enough.
If the United Nations is to be truly effective the Secretariat will
have to be completely transformed. 186.
The Secretary-General and his or her managers
must be given the discretion, the means, the authority and the expert
assistance that they need to manage [the] organization
Similarly, Member
States must have the oversight tools they need to hold the
Secretary-General truly accountable for his/her strategy and
leadership. 190.
I therefore request the General
Assembly to provide me with the authority and resources to pursue a
one-time staff buyout so as to refresh and realign the staff to meet
current needs. 191.
I ask Member States to work with me
to undertake a comprehensive review of the budget and human resources
rules under which we operate. 192. Thirdly, we must continue to improve
the transparency and accountability of the Secretariat.
"
"Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frιchette today
unveiled a series of reforms taken by the United Nations in response to
criticisms of UN management from entities appointed by Secretary-General
Kofi Annan and from the world body's own staff. 'Unprecedented challenges'
faced by the UN have shown that the world body must immediately
reform'
[according to] background information distributed
prior to a press briefing by Ms. Frechette. Noting that reform has been on the UN agenda since
1997, it said, 'The UN must take real action now, where it is in the
Secretary-General's authority to do so directly, particularly in the critical areas of management,
oversight and accountability'
The major criticisms have come from the
[Volcker
group examining the 'Perhaps the most obvious
shortcomings identified by the Volcker Inquiry and other crises are in the
area of oversight and accountability. The current 'control' systems for
monitoring management performance and preventing fraud and corruption are
insufficient and must be significantly enhanced', she said." "Frιchette unveils UN reforms responding to Volcker
panel's criticisms", UN News Service,
Useful Sources Hazzard, Shirley, Defeat of
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