4/12/2005

A few quotes of note regarding the UN

This is a rather interesting article regarding the ongoing problems with the UN. While it is presented from a decidedly pro-Anan standpoint, even these folks are having a hard time pointing out the good parts of the UN. I mean honestly, what has the UN done for you lately? What are we as a folk getting for our investment?

Now Annan, 67, finds himself similarly bruised, allegedly unable or unwilling to control the elephantine bureaucracy he was brought in to reform.

Annan, himself exempt from staff ethics rules, recently allowed the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, Ruud Lubbers, to remain at his post despite a June 2004 internal report substantiating allegations of sexual harassment. Lubbers did not resign until February, when the scandal hit the papers.

Consider that two thirds of U.N. employees surveyed by Deloitte Consulting last year admitted being privy to unethical conduct...

And internal audits reveal how little has happened on Annan's watch when misdeeds are reported.

From 1998 to 2001, a U.N. staff member forced defense lawyers to pay him kickbacks to process their payments at the International Criminal Tribunal for the genocide in Rwanda. In September 2003, frustrated investigators found that the man had not been fired but, instead, had been shifted to other clerical duties.

...a staff member at the U.N.'s Geneva office was allowed to take early retirement after he was found viewing child pornography on his office computer.

U.N. peacekeepers believed to have committed serious crimes, such as rape, face little more than return to their home country as punishment.

A management review conducted in October found that it took, on average, two to three years to fire an employee for whatever reason.

U.N. staff members say there is virtually no training for new employees and no clear career path. Promotions are based on seniority, not performance. And those in charge of complex issues may be chosen for whom they know, not what they know. "They throw people from this mass of incompetence into posts where they have no experience," complains a former U.N. worker...

Now I ask you, if the UN was a company, would you buy its stock? If so, boy are you ever a stupid ass! If not, why then are we the major source of funding for this farce? Wouldn't our tax dollars be better invested elsewhere?

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