Topic: Improving Accountability at the United Nations
Country: Italy
Delegate Name: Zoe VanSlooten
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Italy position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
Accountability of economic procurement and peacekeeper behavior are some of the most difficult aspects of the United Nations to be enforced. The broad term of “accountability” refers to the obligation of members of the UN to make transparent, fair decisions and to enforce these responsibly. One specific issue relating to accountability that has recently arisen is the procurement of funds for the United Nations. This includes the raising and spending of said funds. In the past, incidents have occurred in which funds were raised unknowingly for corrupt purposes, such as funds that were supposedly supporting the Iraqi military were directly distributed to Saddam Hussein. Often times this is done illegally through bribes and kickbacks. Another specific issue relating to accountability is the criminal behaviors of UN Peacekeepers and how they should be punished. These “blue-helmets” have been accused of murder, rape, robbery, and many other less violent crimes. The United Nations Ethics Committee was created in 2006 to help control the accountability of the UN, mainly focusing on the moral factors of peacekeepers and UN members and punishments. The United Nations Transparency and Accountability Initiative was created in to inspect the financial actions of the UN. Although these two organizations are steps in the right direction, the process of creating an accountable United Nations is incessant.
The economic transparency of nations is an ever-present issue and often can compromise their integrity. Italy has dealt with corruption in our systems in the past such as accepting bribes and overspending; there is no denying that. However, we believe that this should be handled within each nation’s government. It is completely unnecessary to involve the United Nations in issues that do not directly threaten other nations, such as economic conditions. If the nation does not upkeep its economic commitment to the UN, then and only then is it necessary for United Nations intervention, since more countries could now be damaged by these issues. Economic accountability is absolutely imperative and should be addressed, but programs to maintain it should be within each individual nation. We are setting an example of this; currently our parliament is discussing a bill to improve the accountability standards and transparency. The less the United Nations must resolve, the more it can focus on issues where its time is truly needed. Economic accountability is one place that it could easily lighten its workload.
As the for punishment of law-breaking peacekeepers, once again the nations themselves should handle the issue. Italy has dealt with officers who have committed crimes in the past and has effectively enforced their resignation, such as officers who abused citizens in Somalia. We demonstrate the reasonable possibility of nations punishing their own officers. Once again, the United Nations does not need to be involved in scenarios where its assistance is not necessary.
Each of these issues require attention; the only question left is who this attention should be from. There is a simple answer: the nations themselves. The United Nations does not need to be involved in the implementation or punishments of either of these problems. Nations are completely capable and competent of handling their own economic and criminal affairs. Italy suggests that all UN involvement be removed from these two areas to allow nations to independently control the accountability of economic affairs and punishment of peacekeepers.
