Topic: 2025 – Criminal Accountability of UN Officials
Country: Saudi Arabia
Delegate Name: Sophia Caron
Topic: Criminal Accountability of UN officials
Country: Saudi Arabia
Delegate Name: Sophia Caron
Committee: LEGAL
School: Portage Central High School
UN officials and experts often work in difficult and unstable environments. Most do their jobs professionally, but cases of corruption, sexual exploitation and abuse, fraud, and obstruction of justice have hurt trust in the UN. One of the biggest problems is jurisdictional gaps. Some personnel have functional immunity, many host countries can’t investigate crimes properly, and some home countries don’t prosecute their citizens for crimes committed abroad. This means some serious offenses go unpunished. Saudi Arabia believes that immunity should never mean impunity. It should only protect officials while doing their legitimate work, and countries must investigate and prosecute their citizens who commit crimes while serving with the UN. Cooperation between host states, contributing states, and the UN is key to preventing gaps, sharing evidence quickly, and protecting victims through clear reporting and prompt investigations. Accountability is essential for keeping trust in peacekeeping and humanitarian work. Saudi Arabia has supported important UN resolutions, like A/RES/62/63 and A/RES/70/286, which focus on transparency, due process, and better data collection. The Kingdom has also passed laws to allow prosecution of Saudi citizens for crimes committed abroad, joined discussions on preventing sexual exploitation and abuse, and supported reforms to make UN investigations and oversight stronger. To improve accountability, Saudi Arabia supports a UN Accountability Coordination Mechanism to track allegations, better extraterritorial jurisdiction so serious crimes can be prosecuted, standardized reporting and independent investigations with protections for whistleblowers, clear limits on immunity, and pre-deployment training on laws and ethics. Saudi Arabia believes that by improving cooperation, making legal responsibilities clear, and ensuring investigations are effective, the UN can deliver justice, strengthen the rule of law, and maintain the trust of the international community.
