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Secretary General Ban Ki-moon could have used his valedictory speech to the General Assembly for some self-reflection on what he could have done better during his two terms.

Ban Ki-moon's Disappointing Valedictory Speech



Ban Ki-moon delivered his final address as United Nations Secretary General to world leaders gathered for the UN's annual high level General Assembly debate. He highlighted as successes during his two terms in office the UN member states' adoption of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals agenda and the successful negotiation of the Paris Agreement on climate change. The Secretary General then catalogued the many unresolved conflicts and "grave security threats" from Syria to North Africa to North Korea. Ban Ki-moon blamed the UN member states for blocking needed reforms of the UN itself. He called for member states to "respect the independence of the Secretariat." He added, "When our reports say what needs to be said, Member States should not try and rewrite history."
Unfortunately, Ban Ki-moon did not devote any portion of his speech to reflect how the UN Secretariat that he has led for the last ten years has faltered badly. The UN peacekeeping operations continue to be plagued by sexual abuse and exploitation scandals in which the most vulnerable civilians the UN troops are supposed to protect have been raped and otherwise abused by troop members themselves. Despite investigations and recommendations for reform, nothing is done. In other cases, such as in South Sudan, UN peacekeepers have simply stood by while civilians were being brutalized by government and armed rebel forces. It took several years before the UN was even willing to acknowledge its responsibility for the tragic cholera outbreak in Haiti, much less consider any remedies to compensate the victims. The UN bureaucracy has also remained too slow to independently investigate and remedy alleged procurement abuses, retaliation against whistleblowers and pay for play schemes where the UN has accepted funding from shady sources who then exploit the UN logo and brand for private commercial benefit. Ban Ki-moon tried to present the UN bureaucracy as an objective source of information and analysis whose "reports say what needs to be said." However, the anti-Israel bias displayed throughout the UN bureaucracy - and by the Secretary General himself in his General Assembly speech - belie any notion of genuine objectivity. “Ten years of illegal settlement expansion and fifty years of occupation,” Ban Ki-moon exclaimed to the General Assembly. “This is madness. Replacing a two-state solution with a one-state construct would spell doom: denying Palestinians their freedom and rightful future, and pushing Israel further from its vision of a Jewish democracy towards greater global isolation.”

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As Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon responded, “The real madness belongs to the UN. Instead of focusing on Palestinian terror and incitement, and instead of compelling Mahmoud Abbas to return to the negotiating table, the Secretary General chose to criticize Israel once again. This is an obsession with Israel and it must end.” Hamas and Fatah leaders have called for a one Palestine solution, eliminating the Jewish state. Hamas has diverted funds and materials intended for civilian reconstruction to re-armament and terror tunnels, with some help allegedly from UN representatives. Yet in report after report issued by the UN, Israel bears virtually all of the blame, including slanted statistics that inflated Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza blamed on Israeli military action. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon could have used his valedictory speech to the General Assembly for some self-reflection on what he could have done better during his two terms. He also could have offered advice for his successor to avoid his mistakes. Sadly, he missed a golden opportunity.


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Joseph A. Klein, CFP United Nations Columnist -- Bio and Archives

Joseph A. Klein is the author of Global Deception: The UN’s Stealth Assault on America’s Freedom.


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