Flaws in the System

by: Natalie Boyle, Teda International School

As much as we’d like to believe otherwise, no one is perfect. With an organization as large as the UN that has an average annual operating budget of $1.9 billion and spends $15 billion a year on various programs and peacekeeping operations worldwide, it is often difficult to resist temptation and keep all of its employees in line. UNOs like UNICEF and the UNDP face similar problems, and spend on average $10 billion dollars annually for economic, social and educational programs, mostly for the developing world. Because of its immensity and global scale, corruption is almost inevitable, but because we still idealistically hope that the United Nations is somehow perfect, the shock of its discovery is devastating. Many people have simply given up hope.
The infamous Food-For-Oil scandal was particularly damaging to the United Nation’s reputation. A 64 billion dollar program that gave Iraqi citizens in 1996 suffering under UN sanctions food in return for Iraqi oil sold under the auspices of the UN was investigated in 2004 under the direction of then Secretary General Kofi Annan. Sixty percent of Iraq’s population was solely dependent on the food and humanitarian assistance the program provided.
It was found that corruption plagued the organization; the head of the program, Benon V. Sevan received $150,000 in bribes from an Egyptian businessman. Reports accused 2,200 international companies of colluding with Saddam Hussein, who was able to earn 1.8 billion dollars in illegal kickbacks and another $11 billion from oil smuggling. According to the initial reports, Savan also refused to allow a formal UN audit and shredded years worth of paperwork; it was also found that a large proportion of the food distributed was “unfit for human consumption.”
A further embarrassment was the revelation that Kofi Annan lobbied for the oil company for which his son worked to receive large contracts with the oil for food program. The reports found that corruption benefited a plethora of international governments, companies, CEOs and individuals. The scandal cost the UN a lot of public goodwill; ever since many people believe that the UN is simply another corrupt organization working to advance its own agenda.
As GA 5 deals specifically with the Oil-for-Food program and UN corruption, it is necessary to turn from the past and look to the future. The UN is currently upgrading its accounting practices, has created the new Independent Audit Advisory Committee, has required all senior level officials to make full financial disclosure statements that are available to all, has created an independent Ethics Office that not only advises individuals but also has the ability to protect whistle-blowers, and is currently working on the implementation of a UN judicial system to hold corrupt officials accountable.
These measures seem to be ineffective, however, as public opinion of the UN is still either muted optimism or vehement pessimism, and UN corruption is still an issue at THIMUN-Singapore. “Firstly, transparency needs to be improved, [as well as] auditing procedures,” said Jessica Kung of the International School of Beijing, “[and] accountability should be established for those in charge of an operation.” “Introducing an open bid process for procurement in UN operations, documentation of information and allowing access to it, audits and revision of regulations in cooperation with NGOs and UNOs [would also be] useful,” said the Delegate of the USA, Rena Minegishi, also of ISB. The delegate of Morocco, Siddharth Gopakumar (British School Muscat), also shared the dream scenario for a resolution, saying “ an accountability program which includes strict guidelines for UN officials, like having to complete operations on budget and in time limits, [and] a transparency program which reports and takes measures to prevent nepotism . . . can control corruption [in the UN].”
It’s a difficult day when the innocent child is forced to admit his hero is flawed, but it is a necessary part of his development. It is important, however for all pessimists to remember, and to acknowledge the fact that the UN has done enormous good; the complete eradication of smallpox and the fight against polio, which has been eradicated in all but sixteen countries, the independence of over 80 different countries, the creation of relatively stable democracies in over 85 countries and the feeding of 113 million people who would have otherwise died of starvation would not have happened without the involvement of the United Nations. Corrupt or not, the United Nations changes lives.