(This article was published in 2017 in many leading newspapers, journals & magazines in the United States in 2017, including the Observer New York and Investor’s Business Daily.)
It’s Imperative The U.S. Cuts Ties with the United Nations
By Pallavi Kakoti-McHugh
As a former United Nations staffer and invitee to UN University, a question I have been repeatedly asked is should the United States cut ties with the UN and what the future relationship of the U.S. and UN should be like? Without the slightest hesitation my answer is a strong yes that U.S. should back down from the UN but that is just first part of my answer. The second part of my answer is replace UN with an international organization that is worthy of being funded by American taxes and is in action, not mere words, in line with America’s values of freedom, liberty, justice and equality for all.
What I envision is a new international organization that delivers what former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who founded the forerunner of the UN (League of Nations), wanted for Americans. He wanted Americans to be part of a group environment of peace-loving and civilized countries and have a standard of morality, which does not exist in the current UN, where I’ve found evidence that staff practice racism, sexism, sexual exploitation and abuse, corruption, block sustainable development efficiency and are unfair to Americans.
My great-grandfather, Gopinath Bordoloi, was Prime Minister of an undivided Assam, a major ally of Mahatma Gandhi, and was crucial in securing India’s freedom. He sacrificed his life repeatedly so that millions of people could have freedom, a better form of justice, and escape human rights violations. Mahatma Gandhi is the world icon of peace and the pioneer of non-violent civil rights movement. Mahatma Gandhi was consulted when the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted and he supported it not knowing that many racist, sexist and corrupt UN staff would later behave the opposite of human rights.
So how can the United Nations claim to state they work towards peace and justice when a number of their staff commit horrific injustices against individuals and the world at large and cover up and crush injustices from coming to light; and they are rarely punished for their wrongdoings? The foremost priority of these UN staff who cover up the unethical and lawlessness behavior of UN staff is holding on to their income tax free international civil service careers, even if it means destroying people’s lives, countries and the planet. When Americans continue to allow their income tax to go to pay income tax free salaries of UN staff, some of whom for years covered up lawlessness and unethical behavior of their staff, caring more for rights of their UN colleagues instead of rights of the victims (a fact established by an independent UN report in 2013) and wanting to hold to their job, you are assisting accomplices to crimes and cover-ups.
I do not blame people for supporting the UN. I felt the same way about the United Nations until I worked at the UN and experienced the corruption and racism of the UN staff and researched evidence of their repeated unethical practices and realized that the truth of the UN is profoundly different behind a mask of excellent public image for 72 years. Some UN staff go to great lengths and will stop at nothing, including lawlessness, to maintain their public image. Some of them prevent reports from reaching the ambassadors of the world at the General Assembly and Security Council, media and manipulate data and the reports. For example, they hid an extremely important 2013 independent expert evaluation of sexual exploitation and abuse report based on experts visiting UN peacekeeping missions in Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Liberia and South Sudan. The report was highly critical of the UN staff in New York, which Aids Free World received a copy of. Instead a profoundly different report (A/69/779*) was provided to the Ambassadors of the world that made the UN come across as being great peaceful warriors of abolishing sexual exploitation and abuse in their staff’s conduct in peacekeeping missions and they were making great progress.
The UN only advertises the good they do for the world and very cleverly and manipulatively hide how some of their staff are accomplices to cover-ups of crimes against humanity including rape, sexual abuse, racial segregation, racism towards nationals and residents of western developed countries such as United States.
Many, in defense, have an attitude of, “So what if the UN staff sexually exploit and abuse approximately 65 starving children and women per year, they feed and protect thousands of children and women per year? So what if UN staff killed 10,000 people in Haiti since 2010, they feed and protect thousands of people over the years?” To me, to victims and families of victims, their life has value irrespective of what any supporter of the UN says or thinks. Cheerleaders of the UN would be singing a very different tune if they were the victims, they paid income tax like the rest of us do and that income tax, who they think is given to an organization in goodwill and altruism to look after wellbeing of humanity, is spent on repeatedly betraying the world public’s trust and harming people and the planet.
Actions speak louder than words. The only wise option is for the U.S. to back down from the United Nations and replace it with an organization that is transparent, fairer to Americans, and delivers in action peace, justice and equality for all. My message to all Americans? Nothing will change until you find out how you are being exploited and demand a change and see the solutions I propose.