Topic: Improving Accountability at the United Nations
Country: Honduras
Delegate Name: Page Wolowski
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Honduras position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
Accountability has been an ongoing issue in the United Nations. Recently with the two most prominent being lack of transparency and criminal activity by soldiers acting under the UN umbrella. When the United Nations starts a movement of any kind, it has to purchase supplies and equipment from somewhere. This is intended to be done through an open and honest process, however, when there is a lack of oversight, the process can be prevalent with bribes and kickbacks, and costs can end up being inflated.The most prominent example was the failure of oversight over the Oil-for-Food programme. This was when Iraq was permitted to sell oil on the open market and use the proceeds to purchase food, medicine, and other humanitarian goods. Instead, oil contracts were farmed out to interested parties in exchange for sending hard currency back to Saddam Hussein’s regime. Another ongoing problem is the peacekeepers and UN blue helmets. The blue helmets are the United Nation’s military personnel on the ground. In the past, the UN blue helmets have been accused of looting, rape, sexual abuse, and murder. Although the United Nations have shown greater disposition to talk about this problem in recent years, little action has been taken against individual perpetrators or other countries responsible.
We have never really had a strong say of the subject of the United Nation’s. In 2013, our country joined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in hopes of limiting the lack of transparency in the Extractive Industry. The EITI is a coalition of governments, companies, civil society groups, investors and international organizations that promotes better governance in countries rich in natural resources. We are not an active country when it comes to solving the lack of transparency in the United Nations. We are aware of the negative affect violence has on women and girls. A multitude of foster trust and confidence has been set up in the new government of January 2014. They are addressing the climate of widespread and systematic crime, corruption and impunity. For the most part they support the United Nations peacekeepers. In January of 2014, they sent about 150 troops to Haiti to join the blue helmets in hopes of helping Haiti with their political instability. They aren’t very open when it comes to the accusations that blue helmets have dealt with in the past. They believe that the peacekeepers are meant to help and protect the common good and intend to do so.
Our government has four pillars: recovering peace, creating investment opportunities for poor families, combating corruption, and promoting transparency. We are dedicated to improving the life of others and doing what’s best for the common good of our country. In order to compromise, we believe that our country should have more of a voice in the United Nations and their decisions on accountability. Also, we believe that the United Nations should take a more active role when it comes to monitoring the lack of transparency and peacekeepers throughout the world
