The United Nations’ sick Saudi joke
the world, and a reassuring one to regimes and organisations that suppress and repress women. Saudi Arabia may be the monarch of misogynist nations, but there are many others that will now feel their policies have the sanction of the UN, the ultimate endorsement of their retrograde worldview. Third, it will undermine the work of the commission itself. Even if the other members are able to render ineffective the Saudi representative, their collective decisions will lack credibility. Who, after all, would take seriously the judgement of a jury if one of its members openly identified with the accused?
Finally, it will hurt the UN itself, strengthening the argument of critics who believe it is morally compromised, has lost touch with reality, and needs to have its wings (and budget) cut. This is especially true in the US, where, in addition to loony conspiracy-theorists, a broad swath of the Republican Party regards the UN with suspicion. President Donald Trump himself declared the UN as “just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.” The international opprobrium that has met Saudi Arabia’s election to the commission will harden that view, with crippling consequences. The US gives the UN $3 billion a year, which covers 22% of the organisation’s costs.
The UN might argue that it has no control over the membership of most commissions, and that Saudi Arabia was voted in by secret ballot. But this will further empower its critics, who will point out that the organisation is not only inept, but also impotent. If the rules allow such absurdities to occur, then it behoves the UN leadership, starting with secretary-general Antonio Guterres, to call on members to change them.
Ok, back to sarcasm. As I write this, I imagine the UN’s official gag writers are gathering to decide their next joke. Should they nominate Russia to head the Electoral Assistance Division, invite Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan to inaugurate the May 3 World Press Freedom Day… or, just maybe, recommend North Korea’s Kim Jong-un as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency?