Topic: 2025 – Criminal Accountability of UN Officials
Country: Chile
Delegate Name: Bryce Broughton
The United Nations itself was created with, more or less, one goal in mind: to keep the peace. Be it the safeguarding of natural rights or the provision of humanitarian aid, to say that the organization was created with benevolent aims would likely be an understatement of some sort. Unfortunately, however, in recent years, concerns have arisen regarding abuse on the side of United Nations officials. Allegations of wrongdoing on behalf of United Nations representatives – particularly on peacekeeping missions in states including but not limited to the Republic of Haiti, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – have entered the public eye. This, on top of additional allegations surrounding fraud and corruption, have resulted in this becoming quite the high-profile issue. While in theory all of this should be handled by various United Nations committees and organs, there are additional geopolitical roadblocks that cause accountability to be limited and for certain malefactors to slip through the cracks.
It is the belief of the delegation from Chile that there exists a diplomatic duty (if not a moral / ethical duty) to do everything in our orbit to limit these abuses of power from individuals that are supposed to represent such a compassionate organization. We call upon the United Nations to expand the purview and prosecuting abilities of certain United Nations-based justice systems (in regards to United Nations officials, at the very least) and to be more cautious about the immunities that are granted to such officials during peacekeeping missions. While in theory, yes, such protections enable duties to be performed without significant interference by local authorities (interference that may be politically motivated and in contrast to the view of the United Nations, keep in mind), in practice, immunity opens up an entirely new proverbial can of worms regarding criminal behavior. This is not to say that such immunities should be entirely discarded – they do exist for a reason – but this is simply to say more caution should be taken with the permittance of such immunities.
In a brief conclusion, the hope of the delegation from Chile is that, through a re-assessment of what immunities for United Nations officials look like, as well as an increase in the power of certain agencies to prosecute misbehaving United Nations officials, we can work towards a society more peaceful and just for all without sacrificing vital purposes of international agencies.
Works Cited
Nations, United. “#Work4UN: Basic Facts about Working for the United Nations.” United Nations. Accessed November 5, 2025.
https://www.un.org/en/academic-impact/work4un-basic-facts-about-working-united-nations.
Great Lakes Invitational Conference Association. “Criminal Accountability of UN Officials – GLICA.Org.” September 1, 2025. https://glica.org/glimun/committees/criminal-accountability/.
UN General Assembly. “Criminal Accountability of United Nations Officials and Experts on Mission – Seventy-First Session – Sixth Committee (Legal).” Accessed November 5, 2025. https://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/71/criminal_accountability.shtml.
Nations, United. “History of the United Nations.” United Nations. Accessed November 23, 2025. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/history-of-the-un.
