Italian Perspectives                                             
by Sandra Giovanna Giacomazzi 

All those bureaucratic mouths to feed at the UN  (December 2005)

di Sandra Giovanna Giacomazzi

Last month Secretary General Kofi Annan rejected the US proposal for an interim budget pending a solution to the stalemate over administrative reforms of the United Nations.  US ambassador John Bolton had refused to approve the usual biennial budget, opting for a temporary solution. Even if Bolton was careful not to tie a formal link between the question of reforms and that of the budget, he indicated that, if the entire budget were approved immediately, the vital reforms would be put on the back burner. Bolton’s tightening of the purse-strings is making the glass palace tremble.  According to Warren Sach, the chief official of the budget department, the UN may be forced to reduce or delay the payment of salaries, or even take a loan from the peace mission funds.

Many complain that the muscular diplomacy of John Bolton is more muscle than diplomacy.  However, no one can deny that the American agenda is a correct one.  No one can rebuff that the structure of the UN is irrational and inefficient.  No one can refute the fact that having assigned countries like Cuba, Libya and Sudan a seat on the commission of human rights has seriously compromised the moral authority of the United Nations.

The first time I prepared a lesson on the United Nations for my students I visited the UN web site to see if I could find any authentic material in English to give them.  I happened upon a beautiful chart that reassumed on a single page the entire organizations with all of its various agencies.  As soon as I saw it, I sent it to the printer, happy to have found something so useful with just a couple of clicks of
my mouse. (http://www.un.org/aboutun/chart.html) However, as soon as I had the sheet of paper in hand, my reaction was totally different.  Alone in my apartment, these words escaped out loud from my mouth: “Oh my God!  All of those bureaucratic mouths to feed!”

Twenty two percent of the economic burden to feed those hungry administrative mouths and twenty eight percent of the cost of the UN peace missions lie on the shoulders of Uncle Sam, i.e., of the American taxpayer.  Therefore, it should come as no surprise to anyone that John Bolton, in the name of those American taxpayers, expects a little accountability for its vast funding in the form of reforms that are considered essential, if not indispensable.

Sandra Giovanna Giacomazzi is an American commentator from Boston.  She teaches Law and Economics in Turin, Italy. She also writes for the Roman daily, L'Opinione  della Libertà and was  awarded the Mario Soldati Prize for Journalism and Criticism for 2002 and the Mario Pannunzio Award for 2003.



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