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May 2005

Blog Roundup #18

Peter Daou - May 31, 2005 - 6:49pm

A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary

JUAN COLE: "Two Army analysts who mistakenly claimed that aluminum tubing bought by Iraq was for centrifuges to enrich uranium received job performance awards during the past 3 years. If Elbaradei could see the falsehood of the claims almost immediately, it is not plausible that US analysts could not. Every American should go back and read thoroughly the transcripts of the reports to the UN of Mohamed Elbaradei in February and March of 2003."

PIRATE'S COVE: "I do believe that the United Nations has done, and still does, some good. That's a fact. There is no doubt in my mind that that is the case. However, do the good things that they have done, are doing, and will do, absolve them of the bad that they have done, are doing, and might do? Hell no. So why does the Left excuse the actions of the UN?"

&c.: "Pat Moynihan may have talked tough at the U.N. in the 1970s, but the man understood how to combine tough talk with immense charm when necessary. Bolton--well, not so much."

WHO Spotlights Role of Health Professionals in Tobacco Control

Peter Daou - May 31, 2005 - 1:54pm

UN News Service: "On "World No Tobacco Day", the UN World Health Organization (WHO) is urging health professionals to be more proactive in minimizing the problems caused by tobacco addiction, consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke.

"Tobacco continues to be a leading global killer, with nearly five million deaths a year", notes Dr Lee Jong-wook, WHO Director-General, and "Health professionals are on the frontline. They need the skills to help people stop smoking, and they need to lead by example, and quit tobacco use themselves."

Memorial Day

Peter Daou - May 30, 2005 - 1:50pm

Every day, in field operations around the world, men and women serve under the flag of the United Nations to build and maintain peace, to relieve human suffering, and to promote human rights and sustainable development. Link (pdf)

There are 66,000 military and 15,000 civilian peacekeepers.

115 members of those missions paid the highest price for their dedication to peace in 2004, with 39 more already killed during 2005.

Learn More

Death Threats Force UNICEF out of Somali Town

Peter Daou - May 30, 2005 - 3:04am

Alertnet: "The closure of the UNICEF office in Bossaso after several death threats against staff underscores the difficulty and danger faced by the handful of aid workers who venture into the anarchic country ravaged by nearly 14 years of militia fighting."

Clinton Backs Tsunami Aid Deal With S.Lanka Rebels

Peter Daou - May 29, 2005 - 1:46am

"Former U.S. president Bill Clinton said on Saturday he supported a tsunami aid-sharing deal between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels, saying it could lead to a lasting peace.

Clinton, the U.N. envoy for tsunami relief, also told a news conference at the end of a one-day visit he had seen much progress in recovery efforts since his last trip in February." Full Story

UN Human Rights Office Calls for Strengthened Role

Peter Daou - May 27, 2005 - 11:39pm

"With human rights observance being one of the central goals of the United Nations, Human Rights High Commissioner Louise Arbour today outlined a strategic vision for the future and called for tools to increase her office's global leadership and its engagement with individual countries.

"Our objective must be to help bridge the gap between the lofty rhetoric of human rights in the halls of the United Nations and its sobering realities on the ground," Ms. Arbour says in a report to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who transmitted it to the General Assembly." Read more...

Oil for Food Facts

Peter Daou - May 26, 2005 - 2:12pm

If you haven't checked out the Oil-for-Food Facts site recently, there's lots of new material posted, including a link to this Philadelphia Daily News letter:

Letters | What Rosett left out

WHILE disparaging the U.N., Secretary-General Kofi Annan and reform efforts initiated by him, Claudia Rosett (op-ed, May 3, "Just some more stale Kofi") focuses primarily on corruption in the Oil-for-Food relief program.

From 1996 until 2003, the Oil-for-Food Program let the Iraqi government sell oil to pay for food, infrastructure, medicine and humanitarian goods. It addressed the humanitarian impact of the sanctions on the Hussein regime while maintaining the sanctions to keep Saddam from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. It was successful in both respects.

Despite U.S. allegations, weapons of mass destruction were not found in Iraq; the caloric intake of Iraqis increased 83 percent during that period; malnutrition rates in 2002 in the central and southern part of the country were half those in 1996 among children under 5; in the three northern governorates, chronic malnutrition decreased 56 percent. The program also contributed to vaccination campaigns that helped reduce child mortality and eradicated polio.

Ms. Rosett fails to point out that most of the money pocketed by Saddam through illegal oil sales came through smuggling outside the framework of the program. Nor does she acknowledge that the U.N. raised concerns about potential wrongdoing on multiple occasions. Also missing is the fact that the U.S. was aware of the corruption taking place by Security Council members China, Russia and France, and to a lesser extent by U.S. companies, and chose to look the other way.

Nor is selective silence unique to this program. In the last few days, the White House has declined to comment as an uprising against the repressive government of President Karimov of Uzbekistan turned fatal as government forces fired on its citizens, killing at least 500.

Similarly, it is withholding support to the people of Kazakhstan against the corrupt regime of President Nazarbayev. The U.S. has military alliances with both of these countries.

Norma VanDyke, President
United Nations Association
Greater Philadelphia Chapter