Recent Scandals at the United Nations - Coursework Example

Recent scandals at the United Nations In recent years, the United Nations has been plagued by scandals, which have undermined its ity as a world body charged with law and order, the preservation of justice and peacekeeping throughout the world. While there have always been allegations of bureaucracy, corruption nepotism and inefficiency in the functioning of this world body, recent scandals have centered upon financial mismanagement of the reconstruction of Iraq, as well as allegations of sexual harassment practiced by UN peacekeepers and officials, together with a dismal human rights record, all of which have seriously undermined the reputation of the United nations. One of the biggest scandals associated with the United Nations in recent times is the oil for food scandal. This program was instituted in 2004 by the Security Council, in the wake of the sanctions that had been imposed upon Iraq by the world community, through passage of Security Council resolution 986. Iraq was allowed to export oil and use the funds generated to procure goods and services that were essential for humanitarian purposes (Gordon, 2007:61). The Office of the Iraq Programme (OIP) within the Secretariat coordinated the work of all UN agencies that operated in Iraq on this program. Periodic reports were posted the OIP website on oil sales, contracts, oil exports and other aspects, together with the state of health care, delivery of medical supplies, repairs to infrastructure and other developments. The Oil-for-Food program has been criticized on grounds of gross mismanagement and misappropriation of funds. The scandal first erupted following the publication of a report published by the GAO in April 2004, followed by reports published by a CIA study group and an Independent Inquiry Committee that was established by the Secretary General but headed by the former Federal Reserve Chairman, Volcker (Gordon, 2007:64). These reports alleged that there were kickbacks of various kinds that had been paid in return for monies illicitly paid to the Iraqi government. Additionally, there were improper after sales service fees that were paid, as well as large amounts of monies that could not be documented at all, thereby strongly providing an inference of corrupt activities. Furthermore, the reports also alleged that oil had been smuggled out of Iraq. All the allegations in the report also highlighted the concerns of the United States that support was being provided to Saddam Hussein’s regime despite the existence of the strict sanctions by the world community. According to Mark, Malloch Brown, the head of the U.N. Reform Committee, the Oil for food scandal has hurt the U.N. quite a bit by damaging its reputation and credibility, and is of the view that what the United Nations needs is senior management accountability (Anonymous, 2005). There have been serious allegations made against the United Nations, on mismanagement, lack of accountability and incompetence. The Secretary General Kofi Annan was himself implicated in the food-for-oil scandal. It was alleged that the selection of the firm Cotecna in 1998 by his son, for an Iraq related contract had been subject to “improper influence of the secretary-general in the bidding or selection process.” (Gardiner, 2005). The question of collection of evidence to prove the charge was also compromised when it was revealed that thousands of incriminating documents had been shredded, to escape detection and prosecution. Although Kofi Annan chose not to resign over the issue, it nevertheless emphasized the perception of the United nations as a corrupt and mismanaged body, misusing funds from the Iraq fund and using the opportunities provided by this fund for acquisition of personal gains. While measures have subsequently been commenced to introduce increased accountability for senior management officials at the United Nations, Brown also points out that it is difficult to reverse a system of deeply entrenched interests within the organization itself.(Anonymous, 2005). The International Accounting and Monitoring Board was charged with the task of overseeing the spending on the Development Fund for Iraq. $23.34 billion of Iraqi funds was placed under the control of the American dominated Coalitional Provisional Authority (CPA). This body spent almost 120 billion of these funds, but of the $18.4 billion dollars that were raised from the pledge of U.S. taxpayers, only $300 million dollars was actually spent for Iraq’s reconstruction, while the rest was badly mismanaged.(Williams, 2006). A partial audit was carried out of $120 million out of $600 million that was provided to U.S. military officials to be used for purposes of reconstruction and 80% of the amount could not be accounted at all. On the one hand, the operation of the Development Fund for Iraq was characterized by non-fulfilled contracts, contractors who were not adequately qualified to handle work and money was being handed out in packets of $100 bills to occupation officers, all of which resulted in the dissipation of large amounts of money.(Williams, 2006). In addition, two U.S. colonels were charged with accepting bribes of $200,000 a month, and they were working with a man who had been hired as Comptroller over a budget of $82 million despite having been previously convicted of fraud. But as Williams (2006) points out, the notable aspect in the midst of all this fraud, bribery and mismanagement of funds, the International Accounting and Monitoring Board of the United Nations, which had the responsibility to oversee the use of the funds appeared to turn a blind eye to the financial wrong doings that were being perpetrated by the American dominated CPA. The IAMB conducted audited of 23 contracts that were worth more than 5 million dollars each, but on one contract that was worth $1.6 billion and was awarded to Halliburton with financing accrued from the Oil for Food money, the audit was carried out by Stuart Bowen, special Inspector General appointed by George Bush, who discovered that a colossal sum of $8.8 billion of DFI money remained unaccounted. The IAMB however, made no attempt to examine those contracts or to take any action to check whether the money awarded against these contracts had been spent on behalf of the Iraqi people. (Williams, 2006). In such respects, the United Nations appears to be increasingly functioning as an extension of the United States rather than an independent international organization. Another scandal that has plagued the United Nations in recent years is the sex scandal. U.N. peace keepers and staff members have been accused of sexual abuse or misconduct in the democratic Republic of Congo, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and other countries. (Loconte, 2005). There have even been accusations of pedophilic activity against children in West African countries. In the year 2001, the U.N. High Commissioner for refugees released a report, which documented the findings of sexual violence by U.N. peace keepers and staff. Subsequently, the United Nations formulated a code of conduct for officials on the field to prohibit sexual activity, but since there is no independent overseeing of the activity of U.N. peacekeepers, there has been little change in practice. One problem in this area is that U.N. rules apply only to U.N. peacekeepers and staff but not the military personnel who may also be involved in peace keeping operations, Furthermore, none of the U.N. staff members found guilty has as yet been charged with criminal activity, while only a few peacekeepers have been deported. This has not helped in cracking down on sexual exploitation by peacekeepers and incidences of sexual violence in West Africa are on the rise. The credibility of the United Nations has also been compromised in recent years on the issue of its dismal human rights record. The Human Rights Council replaced the Commission on Human Rights in 2006, because the institution had lost its credibility on the issue of including members from countries with a record of violation of human rights. In analyzing the reasons for the poor record of the Commission in preserving human rights, Alston (2006) states that one of the reasons was the composition of the Commission. There was a greater emphasis placed on the representation of different cultures and legal systems through a geographical balance rather than on criteria like the relative economic strength of the country from which the representative was selected, compliance with certain standards and implementation of relevant resolutions. (Alston, 2006: 191). This trend thus differs from the criteria applied in the selection of members of other world institutions such as the Security Council, the World Bank or the IMF. The lack of application of proper criteria in determining membership has affected the functioning of the Commission and made it relatively ineffective. Alston (2006) also points out the difficulties in reforming the Commission and improving on its human rights record; namely that there have been difficulties in arriving at an accord; the competing perspectives of different groups only makes it difficult to bring about effective structural changes. He also points out that the process of reform is more difficult than starting up a new organization, because established practices are difficult to change. Conclusion: It must be acknowledged that there are serious problems inherent within the United Nations, such as corruption and accusations of nepotism, sexual harassment and graft against senior officials of the United Nations. Furthermore, U.N. officials are known to be slow, inefficient and often corrupt. The United Nations also has a poor record in terms of improving human rights in various countries and ensuring that world standards are established to take action against countries where human rights violations are taking place. All of these scandals coupled with low levels of performance that have fallen far below expectations, have contributed to the damaging of the credibility of the United Nations. Moreover, in recent times, the actions of the United Nations in functioning largely in accordance with the dictates of the United States, has also undermined its own credibility as an independent organization that has the interests of the world in mind rather than those of the United States. On this basis, it may thus be concluded that the credibility of the United Nations has definitely been undermined to some degree. But despite the serious nature of such allegations, it must also be borne in mind that in tackling such serious world problems like human trafficking, air pollution and nuclear proliferation, it is impossible for a single country working alone to make even a dent in them. (Naim, 2005). There is no other organization, except the United Nations, which has the ability, manpower and resources to tackle such large-scale problems. In terms of its capacity to function as the world body which can deal with pressing world problems today, the United Nations still appears to be best suited for the purpose. As a result, it appears likely that the efforts being made to bring in improved accountability into the United Nations may also address this problem of credibility, because there is no question that despite the internal problems, it still remains the organization best equipped to play the role of global forum for all the world’s nations. On the question of the allegations against Annan in preferentially awarding contracts to the firm Cotecna, it must be noted that this firm was in fact the lowest bidder for the contract and carried out the work designated under the contract, being duly qualified to work on it. Hence, even if there was an exercise of influence, it did not produce any negative consequences as such and allegations of impropriety had little justification.(Gordon, 2007:64). Furthermore, many of the major decisions made in relation to the Food for Oil were in fact decisions rendered by the Security Council, of which the United States, which brought the allegations against the United Nations, was itself a member. This undermines the credibility of the allegations that have been made and it is questionable whether the blame can be laid entirely at the door of the United Nations. Lastly, the organization is also making efforts to improve its performance and tackle the problems of corruption and improper conduct of its officials by introducing regulations and corrective measures. On this basis, it may be concluded that while these allegations cannot be attributed to be of secondary importance, nevertheless, they have not yet completely eroded the reputation of the U.N. or its suitability to perform the role for which it has been designated. Bibliography: * Alston, Philip, 2006. “Reconceiving the UN Human Rights Regime: Challenges confronting the new UN Human Rights Council, 7, Melbourne Journal of International Law, 185- 226 * Anonymous, 2005. “ UNreformable?” Foreign Policy, 150 :24 * Gardiner, Nile, 2005. “United Nations Scandal: Kofi Annan aide shredded Thousands of documents”, Capitalism Magazine, April 9, 2005, http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=4200 ; July 31, 2008 * Gordon, Joy, 2007. “When Unilateralism is invisible: A different perspective on the Oil-For-Food scandal”, Global Governance, 13(1): 59-78 * Loconte, Jospeh, 2005. “The U.N. Sex Scandal”, The Weekly Standard, 10(16), http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/081zxelz.asp ; July 31, 2008 * Naim, Moises, 2005. “The bad boys of global politics”, Foreign Policy, 149:96-97 * Williams, Ian, 2006. “Real scandal not Oil-For-Food but CPA Administered Development Fund for Iraq”, The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, 25(2): 14-15 Read More