Letters from NYC

The New Aushwitz

Eighteen months ago, I started writing about corruption at the highest levels in the United Nations organization, which extended to vendors and subcontractors and which funded violence in Israel, in Darfur and other areas of the Sudan. I would link to some of those posts now, but when my old blogspot site was hacked into, I lost most of them. In those posts, I wrote about the corruption involving Kofi Annan’s son and Boutros Gali’s son, as well as other high-ranking UN officials in the Oil for Food program.

On Monday, Paul Volker released a full report on Part 1 of his investigation on the Oil for Food program’s bribery and corruption scandal, which is believed to involve a number of senior officials. One official, Alexander Yakovlev, has already pleaded guilty in Federal court to charges of bribery, after being stripped of diplomatic immunity. Benon Sevan, the former head of the Oil for Food program, continues to be in hiding somewhere in Cyprus, he is expected to receive indictments this week.

As the investigation continues, the focus will now move to the Security Council staff and members. The committee has already requested Annan’s notes, as well as Security Council meeting minutes related to sanctions against Iraq in the years before the 2003 Iraq invasion, for possible conflict of interest.

Here’s what angers me the most, the failure of the UN to live up to its responsibilities and charter time and again, especially in the face of dire human crisis. We began to see their disregard for human life in Uganda. We continued to see their ineffectualness in Somalia. We are now seeing the UN's analysis/paralysis in Nigeria, where thousands have already died, and where it is expected that hundreds of thousands more will starve to death over the next few weeks. This is in spite of the self-delusional attempt to end poverty and famine through the world-wide Live8 concerts, which featured Kofi Annan as one of its speakers.

The true crime here, and the crime no one will be prosecuted for, is the continual victimization of the youngest victims through greed, corruption, abuse of power, and in-action. In doing so, the UN secured an Aushwitz-like death for thousands of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable children.

Posted by Michele at August 9, 2005 06:17 PM | TrackBack