Tag: United Nations

Exploiting Afghanistan’s Natural Resources

Okay, we’ve all heard these conspiracy theories on the Left about how the war in Afghanistan had nothing to do with 9/11 but rather was a backdoor way to establish an oil pipeline. It seems, though, that the Americans aren’t the only ones exploiting Afghanistan’s natural resources. The BBC ran a long story in late July about the burgeoning trade in the furs of endangered species in Afghanistan, which violates an international ban against such trading. What sort of people are creating this demand for the furs of such animals,

“We have asked most of the foreigners not to buy things and if there is not a market from the foreigners the Afghan people probably don’t need it,” he [Afghanistan’s environment minister Yousef Nouristani] says. “It’s the market created by the foreigners — particularly those who are working with the UN or NGOs.“

UN and NGO workers economically exploiting a developing country? Say it ain’t so!

Source: Afghans flout fur ban. The BBC, July 1, 2003.

United Nations Pushes Schooling for Girls

The BBC reported in April that Kofi Annan and the United Nations were urging nations, especially in the developing world, to make more of an effort to educate girls.

In the developed world, rates of schooling at primary and secondary levels are almost identical by sex. But in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, only 60 percent of girls attend school and worldwide the Global Campaign for Education claims that 65 million girls never attend school. Moreover, the GCE claims that two-thirds of the worlds almost 900 million illiterate adults are women.

As Annan points out, the cost of not educating girls is an expense that developing nations cannot afford,

If we are to succeed in our efforts to build a more healthy, peaceful and equitable world, the classrooms of the world have to be full of girls as well as boys. Every year of schooling completed by them will be a step towards eradicating poverty and disease.

. . .

Study after study has taught us that there is no tool for development more effective than the education of girls. No other policy is likely to raise economic productivity, lower infant and maternal mortality, improve nutrition and promote health, including the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

The BBC notes that the World Bank has set a goal to achieve sexual equality in schooling by 2005, which is one of those goals which will not come close to being met.

Source:

Annan plea for girls’ schooling. The BBC, April 8, 2003.

United Nations Conference on Water

Japan recently hosted the third World Water Forum that featured about 10,000 delegates from 150 countries.

The United Nations has set a goal of reducing by half the number of people without access to safe water and sanitation by 2015. But that seems very unlikely, especially as the forum itself was bogged down by competing interest groups and debate about the best approaches to bring about this admirable goal.

China received praise for its efforts to collect rainwater which has yielded enough drinking water for 15 million people. Such programs, however, rely on good governance which cannot necessarily be guaranteed over time. India also experienced a lot of initial success with a rainwater collection system which then fell victim to lack of maintenance and oversight.

But the oddest thing was the private vs. public water debate. A coalition of NGOs called the Blue Planet Project was unhappy that the last World Water Forum had given its approval for privatization of water facilities. The Blue Planet Project insists that access to water is a “right” that should be guaranteed by the state.

Right, since good governance of public resources is such a hallmark of developing countries that they are the obvious choice to manage water facilities. Privatizing water in such countries has the specific advantage of removing water management from the political realm where corruption has led to the mismanagement of water and other resources in the developing world.

Sources:

Forum tackles world water crisis. Tim Hirsch, The BBC, March 16, 2003.

World meets to tackle water crisis. Ben Sutherland, The BBC, March 15, 2003.

‘Ideological battle’ over world’s water. Tim Hirsch, The BBC, March 18, 2003.

Forty Million in Danger of Starvation

The United Nations recently revised its estimate of the number of people facing food insecurity to 40 million as problems in Africa continue to mount.

In the Horn of Africa alone, 14 million people face starvation unless the World Food Program begins receiving donor aid soon. Ten million of those at risk are in Ethiopia which, like other countries in the region, has been hit hard by drought. According to WFP executive director James Morris,

At least 10 million people will need food aid just in Ethiopia. But if this month’s rains stop early, up to 14 million people there will require urgent assistance.

These figures are large and dramatic and the international community should take notice. Unless we come to grips with this problem very soon we face the real possibility of witnessing a devastating wave of human suffering and death as early as next year.

Morris chalked up the Horn’s problems simply to drought, conveniently ignoring the destabilizing effect of ongoing hostilities between Ethiopia and Eritrea which has made it difficult to sustain an agricultural industry in either country.

Source:

Aid please as Horn of Africa raises hungry to 40m. James Astill, The Guardian, October 29, 2002.

Did Iraq Expel UN Inspectors?

FAIR correctly points out that many networks and newspapers have been reporting that in 1998 Iraq expelled United Nations weapons inspectors. In fact, after Iraq pretty much ended all cooperation with the inspectors in October of that year (there was a brief attempt in December 1998 at weapons inspections, but Iraq’s idea of full cooperation was much different than the UN’s), UNSCOM pulled out its inspectors in December 1998. This was done in part to protect UN workers against military strikes planned by the United States and Great Britain to punish Iraq for its noncompliance with UN Security Council resolutions.

This particular myth probably was started due to two reasons. First, in 1997 Iraq did expel American weapons inspectors claiming they were spies. Second, many news reports of the 1998 withdrawal contained vague language like “UN weapons inspectors today were ordered out of Iraq” which was probably misunderstood by reporters later as implying that the orders to leave the country came from Iraq rather than UNSCOM (though, there’s not much excuse for such sloppiness).

The withdrawal, however, was clearly Iraq’s fault. Beginning in July 1998, Iraq actively interfered with the weapons inspectors. At various points it refused to allow them to videotape inspections, refused to allow inspectors to photocopy incriminating documents they uncovered, and blocked access to facilities that weapons inspectors had every right to enter.

U.S. Under Fire for Withdrawing UNFPA Funds

In July the United States drew fire for its decision to withdraw $34 million in funds from the United Nations Population Fund. The $34 million would have been spent on family planning efforts in China, but the United States maintains that the money would have ended up going to Chinese agencies that coerce women into having abortions and sterilization procedures.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that,

After careful consideration . . . we came to the conclusion that the UN Population Fund monies go to Chinese agencies that carry out coercive programs. Secretary of State Colin Powell decided that . . . US funds for family planning and reproductive health will be spent through the United States Agency for International Development programs and not through UNFPA.

Both China and the United Nations criticized the move.

The UNFPA argued that its activities in China do not involve aiding coerced abortions or sterilizations. UNFPA director of information Stirling Scruggs told The BBC, “We are very sad, and we are shocked because we have never been involved in coercion in China or anywhere else in the world.”

That is a very odd sort of bifurcation. The UNFPA’s view seems to be that it is okay to work with governmental organizations that engage in coercive practices as long as the UNFPA’s work is focused on noncoercive methods. That seems to be an extreme case of splitting hairs. As the State Department noted,

UNFPA’s support of, and involvement in, China’s population planning activities allows the Chinese Government to implement more effectively its programme of coerced abortion.

The UNFPA’s idea that if it takes care of the noncoercive programs and leaves China to deal with the coercive aspects that it has no moral culpability in the matter is absurd.

Sources:

China attacks US baby fund cuts. The BBC, July 23, 2002.

US to axe family planning funds. The BBC, July 22, 2002.