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Resources updated between Monday, October 15, 2007 and Sunday, October 21, 2007
October 19, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Anne Bayefsky
Libya was elected on October 16, 2007 to the UN Security Council, a position it will assume in January. Last month Syria was elected Vice-Chair of the General Conference of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency. These goings-on at the UN have been presented not only as perfectly normal but as laudable. While they have provoked strong reaction in some people, they should not come as a surprise.
The UN, we are told, is an essential institution because of its unique inclusivity. The argument goes that the goals and values of democracies on the world scene are dependent on their doing business with dictators as equals. One state, one vote. Regardless of the numbers of real people being subdued in various ways back home. Regardless of the financial contribution made by each member state to the world organization. Regardless of the extent to which the founding principles and purposes of the UN are flaunted by the member state every day of the week.
So Libya and Syria join a long list of dictatorships, despotisms, and human-rights violators in UN leadership positions -- positions that entail responsibilities diametrically opposed to their incumbents' qualifications.
Here are only a few of today's UN authority figures:
October 17, 2007
October 16, 2007
Libya to sit on Security Council Article
October 15, 2007