The UN's latest

May 14, 2007
The National Post
Original Source: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/comment/story.html?id=656af095-1cd0-4f23-bf14-ea582117487c

Jan. 20, 2003 was a day of shame for the United Nations. That was the date when Libya, a North African dictatorship with an appalling human rights record, was picked to chair the United Nations Human Rights Commission. For the UN's critics, Libya's selection symbolized the utterly amoral nature of the world body.
May 11, 2007 was another such day of infamy for the UN. On that day -- last Friday -- it was announced that Zimbabwe had been picked to head the UN's commission on Sustainable Development.
Like many UN posts, this one is selected on a regional basis. This year was Africa's turn, and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe apparently still enjoys a measure of respect among his African peers. Zimbabwe's Environment Minister Francis Nheme will now become the commission's chairman.
It goes without saying that the mere mention of Zimbabwe and sustainable development in the same sentence constitutes a grim joke. The country features some of Africa's most fertile soil, and was once home to thousands of productive white-owned farms. As recently as 2000, it was wealthy and stable by sub-Saharan standards. But when Mr. Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms and distributing the land to his cronies seven years ago, the economy collapsed -- a trend that was exacerbated when the paranoid old tyrant demolished tens of thousands of homes and small businesses in Operation Murambatsvina, a 2005 campaign against political opponents in the country's shantytowns. The country's currency is now virtually worthless (trading at 20,000 Zimbabwean dollars per greenback). Unemployment is at 80%. And Mozambique has threatened to cut electricity to Zimbabwe because the country can't pay its debts.
Only at the UN could a bankrupt dictatorship that's squandered its God-given bounty be picked as the leader of a group mandated with the promotion of sustainable development. Farces like this explain why the body has such little moral authority.