Cosying up to the Saudis

Naming countries is one of the few tools the United Nations has to enforce its crucial conventions on children in war. Inclusion on the UN’s annual blacklist of bad actors is meant to stigmatize nations that kill or harm children during armed conflicts, spurring these nations to comply with international law.

Traditionally, the only way to get off the list has been to stop killing, conscripting or maiming kids — and many offenders have reformed themselves to avoid the stigma. Since the blacklist was introduced in 2002, about 20 countries and groups have agreed to UN conditions in an effort to get off the list.

But the controversial case of Saudi Arabia’s inclusion on — and subsequent removal from — this year’s list suggests there may now be another, easier way for perpetrators to elude dishonourable mention: extortion.

The initial 2016 report reprimanded a Saudi Arabia-led military coalition for its indiscriminate bombing campaign in the brutal ongoing war in Yemen. Unsurprisingly, the Saudis denounced their inclusion on the list and demanded to be removed. Riyadh threatened to cut off its significant funding to the UN if action wasn’t taken.

Unconscionably, the UN capitulated, erasing the coalition from the blacklist pending a joint investigation. For their part, the Saudis proclaimed the removal a permanent vindication. Let’s hope not.

The UN’s action lends credence to critics who claim the body is increasingly becoming a tool of the U.S. and its allies. Such perceptions can only undermine the institution’s power of moral suasion, on children in conflict and beyond. The same is clearly true of any appearance that a country can bully or buy its way off the blacklist. The UN should know better than to play politics with children’s lives.