The June issue of Response magazine paints a rosy picture of the United Nations and the work it does around the world to promote peace, economic development, humanitarian aid and human rights. One comes away from these articles on various aspects of UN work with the idea that the United Nations is the major entity by which peace in our world and the Great Commission of Christ will be realized. The eleven feature articles give us some useful information about the programs of the UN and the goals it sets for our world. But does Response magazine tell the whole story? Women reading this issue of Response will want to keep in mind that most of the glowing reports are simply statements of UN goals. Little evidence is presented to show that these goals are ever reached. Looking into the actual accomplishments of the programs extolled in Response is disappointing to say the least. The June issue of Response may be no more than the Women’s Division’s attempt to keep United Methodist Women from judging the real facts about the United Nations in an attempt to hold onto a political agenda that has been sold to the women and men of The United Methodist Church. These programs, funded by individual giving in local UMW circles and through our apportionments, are found in our Social Principles and Book of Resolutions. This in effect ties the mission of The United Methodist Church to the UN, an institution that is riddled with scandal and unethical practices, and is complicit in the spread of terror. The UN is often ineffective as an institution of relief to the suffering and oppressed. Why have we allowed and enabled the Great Commission of Christ to go into all the world, spreading the good news and healing the sick to be reduced and tied to the goals of this failed institution? Delegates to the 2004 General Conference passed every piece of legislation without exception that called for The United Methodist Church to support UN treaties, UN environmental policies and UN failed feeding programs. We agreed to partner with UN ministry programs to women that are predominately nothing more than abortion rights advocacy programs. The Real Story The real story of the UN is being told daily by print and television media. On July 13, CSPAN featured Jed Babbin, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense in the first Bush administration. Babbin has authored Inside the Asylum which presents convincing evidence that the UN acts as a hindrance to progressive change in the world and has done little to promote its stated goals of world cooperation and peace. Babbin gives many examples to support this claim of unreached goals. For instance, Babbin shows how the UN has given billions in aid to Yasser Arafat which has yet to be used for its intended purpose to aid the Palestinian people—but instead has gone to fund terrorist activities. He reports that Kofi Annan’s private negotiations with Saddam Hussein watered down the UN sanctions and the inspections rules which were a contributing factor in the eventual war. He goes on to detail the UN’s failure to do inspections that had been agreed to after the ’91 Gulf War. Disturbing as well is Babbin’s summary of the unfolding Oil for Food Scandal. The UN Oil for Food program, according to Babbin, “provided Saddam Hussein with the means to bribe politicians, to deprive his people of needed food and medicine and to literally steal billions of dollars. There is even emerging evidence that money from the program might have gone to support Al Qaeda.” Oil for Food Scandal The Oil for Food program is currently the subject of at least eight or nine investigations. This includes investigations in both houses of Congress and also an independent UN investigation led by Paul Volker. Claudia Rosett, a fellow at the Hudson Institute and a member of the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, testified before a House subcommittee on July 8, 2004. In her testimony she told of the UN officials who allowed billions to be, in her words, “filched from what was supposed to be a relief program for the tyrannized and impoverished people of Iraq.” (It should be noted that Rosett put the blame for the tyranny and poverty of the Iraqi people solidly on Saddam and not, as the Women’s Division has claimed, on the US imposed sanctions.) Testimony before Congress tells of UN secrecy and perverse incentives that enabled fraud and theft totaling at least $10 BILLION and perhaps in excess of $11 billion. In order to get much needed relief to the Iraqi people, the UN was charged to oversee a program by which Iraqi oil could be sold in exchange for much needed medicine and food supplies. Benon Sevan was put in charge of the program and the business firm of Kofi Annan’s son eventually was awarded the contract to inspect all Oil for Food shipments into Iraq. Under his company’s supervision, inferior food and medicine was allowed in as well as goods requested by Saddam that had nothing to do with providing relief to the suffering in Iraq. Saddam was allowed to choose the contractors who bought his oil and the UN kept the list confidential. Not surprisingly, France, Germany, Russia and China–all who opposed going to war with Saddam–were the major recipients of Oil for Food contracts. Fraud occurred when Saddam sold oil below market value and then took kickbacks from the contractors for himself. The money from these kickbacks went to fund Saddam’s palaces, his weapons programs, and new evidence shows that these funds made it into the hands of front organizations for terror. These same funds were used to brutalize the Iraqi people. All this went on under the watch of Benon Sevan and over 800 UN monitors on the ground in Iraq. Only the United States and Britain questioned the program and attempted to force the UN to do something about the fraud, but they were blocked by the governments on the Security Council—the very recipients of Saddam’s oil contracts. Rosett testified that the UN “helped shore up the totalitarian government of Saddam Hussein while quite probably corrupting a significant array of political figures and businessmen worldwide.” She went on to testify that UN confidentiality and lack of accountability gave Saddam the cover he needed to stay in power after the ‘91 Gulf War. Also part of the Oil for Food debacle is the sex scandal that went on in the UN office that was charged with investigating the scandal; the 2.2% commission on every barrel of Iraqi oil that was collected by Kofi Annan; as well as the murder by car bomb in Baghdad the week of July 6 of Ughsan Karim, who was in charge of the Iraqi end of the Oil for Food investigation. Of course, nowhere in Response magazine will United Methodist Women read anything about this scandal. Instead they will read David Wildman’s (not to be confused with United Methodist minister Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association, www.afa.net.) claim that in all the UN’s “programs and agencies, it seeks to address people’s basic needs and equality.” Wildman, executive secretary for human rights and racial justice for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, purports that the UN places people before profits and human well-being before military might. However, the investigations now taking place flatly refute this. He calls for The United Methodist Church to affirm the critical role of the UN citing our Social Principles which endorse the UN as the best instrument to achieve a world of justice and law. What about justice and law? Let's look at the real facts.
World Food Program Wildman erroneously claims the World Food Program has been a great success in North Korea where they have a “no access, no food” policy. Certainly the goals of food shortage prevention, improved nutrition and food security are commendable, but this policy has simply not been able to deliver on its “no access, no food” policy to the people of North Korea. The UN has sat by while Pyongyang has withheld aid to millions of starving people all the while indulging in lavish military spending which includes their nuclear program. This is witnessed by the large influx of North Koreans who are streaming into China and South Korea, not to mention the well documented evidence that humanitarian aid has simply not been distributed to the North Korean people, often going instead to Kim Jong Il’s army. Wildman admits that the food crisis in “The Democratic Republic of Korea” remains dire, but ties this to inadequate funding. This cannot be blamed on “reduced donations” as Wildman claims. Of course there is no mention of what the UN could be doing to put pressure on the oppressive failed communist regime of Kim Jong Il, a regime that ignores basic human rights of its people. Instead, Wildman blames the US and Japanese governments who have put the blame squarely where it belongs and seek to address the root cause of the suffering. In addition, Wildman leaves the impression that the US is more interested in its military might than starving Koreans and that reduced military spending on the part of the US would solve this problem. To extol the World Food Program in light of the real story in Korea as well as the $11 billion Oil for Food scandal misleads United Methodist Women. To address the hungry and starving in the world is commendable and necessary. But the record simply does not support that the UN has been an effective vehicle for this worthy cause. Kyoto Protocol Wildman also extols the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol as a vehicle “of hope and vision for a better world.” Again the US is blamed for emitting 25% of all greenhouse gases annually. There is of course no mention of the other 75%, a large majority of which comes from countries such as India. The US, as well as many other developed nations on the Security Council (including Russia), has wisely refused to sign this treaty for again it does little to address the root problem. Accountability is a huge problem for the protocol. Wildman ignores the fact that scientists have not been able to conclusively prove that reducing emissions and greenhouse gasses will have an appreciable effect on global warming or rising sea levels. He makes a huge leap in suggesting a correlation.
The UN and Peacekeeping Operations Dana Jones, editor of Response dismisses the peacekeeping operations of the UN as a small percentage of its activity. This dismissal is convenient given the UN’s dismal failure in the area of peacekeeping. July 12 marked the ninth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia. The UN was ineffective to say the least and morally complicit by some standards in the Balkan massacres of the early ‘90s. It was the UN that was sent in by the international community and charged with putting a stop to ethnic cleansing. It would be the eventual deployment and presence of American troops that put a stop to the bloodletting—not the UN. The same failure is witnessed in the Somalian crisis of 1992-95. The UN sent in approximately 19,000 troops and still failed to bring about peace among feuding clans and reestablish a semblance of government. US troops were called in to assist the UN. At the height of the crisis, the UN withdrew with the help of US troops, having failed to stabilize a country in civil war. It claimed that it was no longer safe for the UN presence. What began as a program to feed starving people ended in failure once again. A look at the UN record in Haiti and Rwanda tells a similar story of failure not only to provide for the dissemination of humanitarian aid, but also to provide for the rudiments of peacekeeping. In Rwanda, the UN did little to stop the murder of innocent people by jeeps full of thugs who went from town to town. Most of us will remember that the UN bolted from Iraq after its first casualty, saying that it was too dangerous for them to remain after the US invasion, as if it were safe under the Saddam regime.
Human Rights It is difficult to take proponents of the UN seriously when they commend the UN for its role in the area of human rights. After all, Libya, ruled by the dictator Qadhafi, known to have weapons of mass destruction and to be responsible for the Lockerbie crash, was the chair of the commission last year. This year, the UN elected Sudan to the commission despite the Khartoum regime’s bombing, enslaving, starving and slaughter in one of the world’s most egregious and obscene examples of racism. Scandalously, the United Nations and the international community, not to mention the church, have not held Khartoum accountable. Paul Marshall, senior fellow for Freedom House’s Center for Religious Freedom, reports that since 1987 there have been more than 2 million deaths in Sudan. This is more loss of life for the same time period than all the wars in Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Chechnya and the Arab/Israeli conflict combined. Only recently have the mainline denominations raised their voices against the atrocities there. Marc Leland, a delegate to the Human Rights Commission in Geneva this past April and May, points out in an article for Human Events Online (June 30, 2004) that, “China, which has been going backwards on what was already a terrible human rights record, could not be criticized in Geneva, although the US tried to do so.” Leland says, “It was only through the Herculean efforts of the senior members of the Bush Administration and Ambassadors Moley and Williamson in Geneva that a resolution pointing out Cuba’s human rights violation was possible, and that resolution only passed by one vote.” Leland believes that the commission’s main purpose seems to be to attack the United States and Israel.
The UN performance in the area of human rights is
disappointing. For all its worthy goal setting, the UN has been more
intent on condemning the United States for going to war and ending real
human rights atrocities than celebrating the advances that have been made
for both the people of Afghanistan and Iraq. UNICEF Both Wildman and Duke speak of UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) in glowing terms. What they do not tell UM Women is that the Reagan Administration withdrew support in the 1980’s due to UNICEF’s poor performance on behalf of children and the organization’s radical political leanings. In July 2004, the House of Representatives held hearings on UNICEF and the Bush Administration’s request for funds. Several representatives expressed concern that UNICEF had undergone no reform since the Reagan years and should not be funded. One Texas Representative read from UNICEF’s stated goals for education which calls for the elimination of any educational systems that attempts to teach an objective standard of “truth.” One issue in particular, which Executive Director, Carol Bellamy has been asked to account for is UNICEF’s support for abortion on demand. Some will ask what abortion has to do with basic health, nutrition and survival for children. Joseph Bottum writes for the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Weekly Standard. He shares in The Weekly Standard (February 16, 2004) in an article titled “On UNFPA, UNESCO, Etc.,” that UNICEF has, “given up feeding hungry children in order to agitate for minors’ access to condoms, require that refugee camps provide abortion services and hand out sex-education manuals to third world children.” He says that it is shocking that UNICEF is giving books to Latin American grade school children that tell them how to have sex with each other and their dogs, according to a series of articles in The Washington Times. Bottum reports that “[T]hey [UNICEF] have campaigned for the worldwide legalization of prostitution, driven away the Vatican that Jim Grant found so helpful in his old UNICEF projects, weakened their promotion of breast-feeding because of feminist complaints that it made women look like ‘milk cows’ and, in the name of girl power, nearly abandoned the education of boys even in countries where more girls are in school than boys.” Bellamy defends UNICEF by claiming they spend over half their funds on child survival. According to Bottum, this figure is down from the 85% spent on child survival in 1992. With as much as 50% of the UNICEF budget going to these radical programs, many inside and outside of Congress have called for the de-funding of UNICEF until its goals for child survival are clearly reestablished. Response magazine once again does not tell the whole story. United Methodist Women deserve to know the whole truth about UNICEF and why many of our own lawmakers question its mission and support of our tax dollars not to mention church funds.
Women’s Issues The plight of women in countries and societies where basic freedoms and human rights are not operable is a legitimate concern for UM Women and indeed all women. Vina Nadjibulla in Response tells a story whereby the United Nations is seen as playing a key role in advancing women’s equality and lifestyle. Nesreen Berwari, Iraq’s minister for Municipalities and Public Works, an Iraqi, and a Kurd, tells yet a different story. She writes in The Wall Street Journal that she is deeply disappointed in the recent UN Security Council resolution that recognizes Iraq’s sovereignty but refuses to endorse Iraq’s Transitional Administrative Law (TAL). For women, as well as ethnic minorities, this lack of endorsement has the potential to undermine newly won guarantees to rights and protections. In Ms. Berwari’s opinion, the TAL, which serves as Iraq’s interim constitution and contains a strong bill of rights, guarantees equality and a voice to minorities and women. It also lays the foundation for a real democracy—not one in which powerful Shiite clerics and other religious leaders can impose their will. This is particularly important to the women of Iraq who have been working in the Interim Governing Council to restore women’s rights that were a model to other countries in the area until they were eroded under Saddam’s regime. The TAL provides for the guarantee of civil law to all citizens. This is important because it prevents clerics from having undue power over women as is the case where Islamic religious law is the law of the land. Under Islamic law, women tend to have an unequal, second-class role within their own families. Because women are acutely aware of the oppression and inequality that all too often is codified into law in that area of the world, their involvement is especially important to the creation of a permanent constitution that will ensure rights for all Iraq’s religions and prevent the tyranny of powerful Islamic clerics. The TAL also provides guarantees for much needed representation for women in the interim legislature. At this time, six out of 33 ministers in the new interim government are women and the TAL mandates that 25% of the legislature be women. This representation is important if women’s rights and indeed equal rights for all are to continue to be a priority as the process for a permanent constitution and elected government goes forth. The UN does well to recognize Iraq’s sovereignty, but in not solidly backing the transitional law, the UN falls short and fails to rally the international community solidly behind the commitment to a free Iraq. Once again goals do not match performance in the UN.
Women’s Division and the UN This report has attempted to take an honest look at the real accomplishments of the United Nations as they relate to the claims made in the June issue of Response. There are certainly good reasons for the existence of the UN. Some of its programs or at least portions of them provide services needed in today’s world. At the very least, it provides for the governments of the world to come together in the hopes of promoting world peace. But, as it presently exists, it is an institution riddled with problems and scandal whose successes have been severely limited at best. We cannot allow the self appointed cheerleading of the Women’s Division to go unanswered and mislead United Methodist Women. The question for United Methodist Women and indeed all United Methodists is, why would we want to promote this worldly, secular institution and the policies it supports which have little to do with the real cause of peace? What does the mission of the church have to do with the UN? This mission of the church, which is the stated mission of The United Methodist Church, is to lift up to a suffering world the “Prince of Peace.” Our mission is to, in Wesley’s words, “offer them Christ.” It is only through the true gospel message that hearts are changed and peace is attainable. This is not merely clothing our efforts in the language of love and peace and calling it Christian. Even if every program of the UN was a resounding success, there would still be no peace in the World apart from Christ. Again we must ask, why United Methodists have allowed the mission of the church to be tied to a secular institution? Why do we, the church, rightly address the physical needs of the world’s suffering and yet offer no more than a political answer to real spiritual need? Taking Christ’s Great Commission seriously, we should continue to promote respect for all peoples, cultures and religions. This does not mean we teach that all religions are equal. It does mean we tolerate and respect other’s beliefs as long as they tolerate and respect those different from their own. We can never justify violence as an instrument of enlightenment or retaliation as in the instance of 9/11 or the all too often suicide bombings in the Middle East. That is not to say there is no just war. For years, the RENEW Network has been reporting and analyzing the programs and the political lobbying of the Women’s Division. Throughout these reports a strong political bias on the part of the Division is evident. It is a bias that sees the success of the United States as a cause for the want in other countries. This US bashing and hatred is misguided and should not be tolerated in the church. That is not to say that the church should not call its country to the highest moral standards. But biased political posturing for any cause is unworthy of the church. The Women’s Division staff has successfully co-opted many of the programs of the UMW for a leftist political agenda. Ample documented evidence of these facts had been presented in the pages of RENEW’s reports. When will the women and the church demand more—demand reform?
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