The United Nations is often a laughingstock for allowing some of the world's worst human rights offenders to serve on various bodies while at the same time condemning Israel more than any other country combined. Last March, for example, Iran, notorious for its persecution of women, was elected to a four-year term on the Commission on the Status of Women, an intergovernmental body dedicated to "the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women." While a US-led campaign finally got the country kicked off the CSW in December 2022 after the country's crackdown on protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody, this isn't the norm, and most nations carry out their full terms.
Now, we have yet another example of the UN reaching another "grotesque moral milestone."
Russia has assumed control of the Security Council, a rotating position, despite its ongoing war in Ukraine and the International Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant for its leader, President Vladimir Putin.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board was clear about what this means.
Yes, the country that is bombing cities and civilians in Ukraine, and threatening nuclear war, takes over the body that is supposed to enforce international norms among nations.
In one sense this is truth in advertising at last. The Security Council has done nothing to sanction Russia since its Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of its neighbor. Russia has wielded its vetoe to prevent that, while China has abstained. So having Russia run the joint as rotating president underscores how feckless the U.N. is in enforcing anything like global order.
This should be clear to everyone by now, but the myth dies hard that something called the “international community” can stop global rogues by acting through a multilateral institution. The liberal internationalists running American foreign policy these days still cling to the detritus of this Wilsonian dream, which may be why Russia’s ascension at the U.N. is getting so little criticism. (WSJ)
UN Watch's Hillel Neuer had to remind people that, while taking place on April 1, it was no April Fool's Day joke.
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On Monday, Russia's murderous regime will celebrate the occasion in New York. “Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, President of the Security Council for the month of April 2023, will discuss the Security Council's Programme of Work.” https://t.co/GKBNqUYYd1 pic.twitter.com/cRo8QrWU3e
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 1, 2023
Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, dismissed the criticism from Western officials that it will use its presiding seat "to spread disinformation and promote their own agenda as it relates to Ukraine," saying such rhetoric was in the "vein of the Western narrative."
