Time to Disband the United Nations?

I hate the United Nations. There I said it. I mean, in theory, I should love the UN - being that I'm all about peace, love, happiness, and rock 'n roll - but I really dislike it. And my hate began in the strangest way - not when examining the imbalanced mistreatment of Israel throughout its history although it was noticable, but while watching the movie, Hotel Rwanda. Now I know that movies are not reality, and I realize that not everything in Hotel Rwanda is the absolute truth; however, if you listen and watch closely (and I have done so multiple times given that I used the movie in my classroom for several years), there are actual radio clips and statements from world media highlighting the shortcomings of the UN during the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

Recently, a friend of mine opined on Facebook that the UN should be disbanded, if not put on trial for its complicity with Hamas that's come to light during the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas. I credit him for inspiring me to retrace some of the major missteps of the UN since its creation after WWII in 1945. Replacing the League of Nations, the UN was created so the world would not repeat the pitfalls of WWII. The UN's "objectives include maintaining international peace and security, promoting human rights, fostering social and economic development, protecting the environment, and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict" (Wikipedia). The objectives are noble - and I'm sure that the UN has successfully met some of the objectives at times - but the UN has also failed miserably multiple times to adhere to its objectives. Here are some of ones that stick in my craw:

1) Inability To Stop Genocide: As I said above, my distaste began when I realize how the UN truly failed the people of the Rwandan genocide. Even though the UN was aware of the potential of Tutsi on Hutu violence in the early 90s, they failed to protect the Hutus and in many cases, stepped aside as the Tutsis carried out their slaughter of nearly 1 million Hutu people. If only it stopped there. Unfortunately, the UN has impotently failed the objective of maintaining peace, security, and armed conflict in many other situations including - Darfur, Sudan where upwards of 300,000 civilians have been killed by the Janjaweed in the early 2000s; in the early 90s, Serbs killed more than 7500 Bosnians and raped/pillaged their lands due to an ill-prepared UN force; and the list continues with failed UN missions to save people from the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia where 2.5 million people were killed in the late 70s, and in Sri Lanka where at the end of a 25+ year civil war, 6500 civilians were killed in a UN safe zone. I am fortunate to have learned about these situations from my students over the years who after reading about the Holocaust and watching Hotel Rwanda, performed their own research on genocides around the world in the 20th century.

2) Hypocrisy on Human Rights: Instead of protecting human rights worldwide, ironically, some of the worst violators of human rights end up in leadership roles for the UN Human Rights Council. Off the top of my head countries such as Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Turkey, Libya, Qatar, and China - among other countries with spotted history of abuses - have served or currently sit on the council. It seems like the UN focuses disproportionately on Israel's human rights alleged violations; meanwhile, countries around the world continue to persecute women, homosexuals, races, handicapped, and other groups in their midst with little reproach.

3) Disproportionate Focus on Israel: You knew I'd get here. So many things have come to light during the recent conflict in regards to the UN's inept ability to protect Israel and keep Israelis and Arabs safe from conflict. There are a ton of people with better resources and more in depth coverage of the disproportionate treatment of Israel by the UN over the years, so I will let you do your own research on the subject if you desire - after planting a few seeds (Like my friend Rick's blog, which you should be reading if you are interested in exploring the Arab-Israeli Conflict. He's been doing it a lot longer and a lot better than me!).

Anyhow, in brief, it is well documented at this point that the UNRWA has been used as a cover for hiding Hamas missiles. Not only have missiles been found at no fewer than 3 UNRWA schools in Gaza, but once discovered, those missiles somehow ended up back in the hands of terrorists. Also, 3 IDF soldiers were killed exploring a terror tunnel they discovered in what may have been a UNRWA health clinic. It was booby trapped and the explosion killed the soldiers. While the UN has rightly condemned the use of their resources for Hamas cover, the rebukes are few and far between. For as Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields and executes suspected collaborators with Israel, the UN disproportionately continues to admonish Israel for targeting civilians; the UN cites Hamas death statistics which list civilian casualties at 80% (while IDF sources place the number closer to 50%). And most disturbingly, the UN criticized Israel for NOT handing over their Iron Dome technology to terrorists. Think about that for a moment - the UN told Israel that the technology they developed to protect Israeli civilians should have been shared with an entity whose charter calls for the genocide of the Jews. I shit you not.

Look, this list could go on and on. But I think you get the picture - and the nuggets are there to help you start your own research if you choose. There are many reasons to hate the UN, and probably many reasons to lobby the United States to stop funding such a biased, ineffective body on US soil. As my friend suggested - maybe it's even time bring the UN to trial for complicity in the death of millions or at least disband the UN. At the very least, next time you hear UN body count statistics from Gaza or UN condemnations of Israel (or any other country), it should give you pause to wonder whether or not those words are truthful and just.