Defund the United Nations
Created in the wake of the Second World War, the UN was intended to promote peace and human rights across the globe. Sadly, it has fallen short of those lofty goals. The UN replaced the League of Nations because that body was ineffective, and failed to prevent the horrors of WW2. However, the UN seems equally incapable of maintaining peace . For example, the UN did not prevent Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Indeed, it could not, because Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council, and their vote is required for any binding resolutions.
The UN is worse than ineffective: it is a pernicious tool of every despotic regime on earth. Consider the Human Rights Council. This body is charged with protecting freedoms and human rights around the world. But 70% of its members are not even democracies. Its executive board includes some of the worst human rights abusers on earth, such as China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia and Myanmar. What would be laughable if it weren’t so outrageous and sad is that Iran was recently honored with chairing a meeting of the Human Rights Council. Iran is the biggest state sponsor of terrorism and denies its citizens basic human rights. How can it be that one of the most repressive governments on earth is sitting at the head of the table on human rights? The absurdity is astonishing.
The only thing that the UN seems able to accomplish is condemning Israel. There have been more UN resolutions condemning Israel, the Middle-East’s only democracy, than any other country. Think about that. Israel is condemned by the UN at about 4x the rate as North Korea. While Israel has been the subject of 140 condemnatory resolutions, there have been precisely zero resolutions criticizing human rights abuses in China or Pakistan. China’s persecution of its Muslim population is one of the most egregious human rights abuses in the world. We don’t see worldwide protests of this and in the halls of the UN there is utter silence about these crimes against humanity. Only Israel gets singled out for condemnation on a regular basis at the UN.
You might think that countries contribute equally to the budget of the UN but you would be mistaken. The US contributes more than any other country. In 2021, the US gave more than $12 billion to the UN, which is about one-fifth of its budget. Why do we fund an ineffectual body that serves as the essentially free PR firm for every tyrannical government on earth? The UN has no moral legitimacy and has become an impediment to the advance of western civilization. By providing authoritarian governments with a platform to whitewash their crimes, the UN betrays its founding principles of promoting peace and human rights.
What should be done to reform the UN? The US should withhold funding until the UN charter is amended to deplatform the worst human rights abusers. This means that seats on the Security Council should not be permanent, but must be conditional on adherence to international human rights law. With China and Russia on the Security Council, the UN is rendered a farce at best. The US should not be funding this anti-democratic institution if it cannot live up to its founding principles.
