Joseph A. Klein, CFP United Nations Columnist

Hypocritical UN Committee Maligns the Catholic Church

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (“Committee”) describes itself as a “body of 18 Independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child [‘Convention’] by its State parties” and “publishes its interpretation of the content of human rights provisions.” Its so-called “independent experts” include representatives from such human rights abuser states as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain. They are described on the Committee’s website as “persons of high moral character and recognized competence in the field of human rights.”

Varying Assessments of Syrian Chemical Weapons Destruction Status

In his State of the Union address on January 28, 2014, President Obama claimed that “American diplomacy, backed by the threat of force, is why Syria’s chemical weapons are being eliminated.” Not so fast, Mr. President.

UN Secretary General Withdraws Invitation to Iran to Attend Syrian Peace Conference

In a startling turnabout in the space of less than twenty-four hours, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon rescinded an invitation he had extended to Iran to participate in the kickoff of the Syrian peace negotiations this week in Switzerland.

Japan’s Prime Minister Accused of Honoring War Criminals at Controversial Shrine

Japan and Germany, now strong democracies and close allies of the United States, have dealt very differently with their dark pasts.

UN Security Council Acts Quickly On South Sudan

South Sudan, which gained its independence from the Republic of Sudan in 2011 after years of civil war, is on the precipice of another all-out civil war involving opposing political and ethnic factions within the country. South Sudan has in the last week experienced extensive civilian casualties, including extra-judicial killings targeting innocent civilians because of their ethnicity.

Samantha Power Downplays Jihadist Threat During Visit To Central African Republic

Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has spent a couple of days this past week visiting the violence-plagued Central African Republic (CAR). She toured some areas affected by the sectarian violence that has broken out between Muslims and Christians.

UN Approves Year of Solidarity with Palestinian Self-Pity

In yet another display of pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel bias, the United Nations decided that observing the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People annually on November 29th was simply not enough. November 29th was the date in 1947 when the UN General Assembly approved its partition plan resolution that would have given the Palestinians a state of their own more than six decades ago, side by side with Israel.

New York Times Finally Sees Jihadist Threat In Syria As Crisis Rolls On

The New York Times has finally come to the realization that jihadist groups fighting in Syria against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are likely to be more dangerous than the “secular” Assad himself. In a front page article on December 4, 2013, with the sub-heading “Officials Say Militants in Syria Could Threaten U.S. and Europe,” the “paper of record” at long last went on record to state the obvious.

Iran and Syria Accuse Israel in Beirut Suicide Bombing Attack

Two back-to-back suicide bombings on November 19th in the vicinity of the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Beirut, Lebanon killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 140.

Africa Feels Slighted by the UN Security Council

“Let it be written in history that the Council failed Kenya and Africa,” exclaimed Rwanda’s United Nations Ambassador Eugène-Richard Gasana last Friday to the United Nations Security Council. He and other African delegates spoke out after the Security Council rejected a resolution proposed by African member states and their regional group, the African Union, seeking a one-year delay in International Criminal Court (ICC) proceedings against Kenya’s President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and Deputy President William Samoei Ruto.

The UN’s Failed Fight to Stop Polio Imported from Pakistan to Sudan

The United Nations Security Council must find a way to “unlock” the situation in Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile States so that humanitarian agencies can gain unfettered access to administer polio vaccinations to as many as 165,000 children in the two states, John Ging, Director of Operations from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said at a press conference at UN headquarters in New York yesterday. Despite the outbreak of polio in the region, Sudanese government and rebel forces there have not responded positively to the urgency of the situation, he said.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back in Syria

Speaking to the press at United Nations Headquarters in New York following her first briefing to the Security Council on November 5th, Sigrid Kaag, Special Coordinator of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)-UN Joint Mission overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons program, said that the Syrian authorities were cooperating so far. Key equipment for all of its declared chemical weapons production facilities have been destroyed.

Israel Agrees to Participate in UN Human Rights Council Circus

Israel decided to end its year and a half boycott of the three-ring circus known as the United Nations Human Rights Council. Responding to significant diplomatic pressure from the United States and Germany, Israel sent representatives to a Council session on October 29th to participate in a review of Israel’s human rights record.

Samantha Power Faces A Moral Decision On Rwanda

Following their visit earlier this month to Africa’s Great Lakes region, which includes the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda, members of the United Nations Security Council met to consider what they learned during their visit. They also heard reports from two high level appointees of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who urged more progress in regional peace efforts in the wake of an apparent deadlock on certain key issues in the so-called Kampala talks between the DRC government and the armed M23 rebel group fighting against the government.

Saudi Arabia Turns Down UN Security Council Seat

In declining to accept a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council that it had actively sought for two years, Saudi Arabia pouted that it could not abide by the Security Council’s “double-standards.”

New High-Level UN-OPCW Coordinator for Syria Mission Lacks Relevant Experience

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced on October 16th the appointment of Sigrid Kaag of the Netherlands as Special Coordinator of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)-United Nations Joint Mission to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons program. The appointment was made in close consultations with OPCW Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü and supported by the UN Security Council.

Obama’s Naive Hopes for Peace Deal with Sham “Moderate” Rouhani

Three days after being snubbed at the United Nations by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, President Obama made a hurriedly arranged telephone call to Rouhani last Friday as the Iranian president was heading to the airport to return to Tehran. This followed what Secretary of State John Kerry had described as his own “constructive” meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif the previous day.

Russia and Iran Roll Over John Kerry

Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced in separate statements to the press late Thursday afternoon that agreement had been reached between them on the elements of a Security Council resolution to implement the transfer of Syria’s chemical weapons to international control for removal and destruction.

President Obama’s Speech to the UN General Assembly

President Barack Obama delivered his annual address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 24, 2013, the opening day of the UN’s general debate session with many heads of state and other government leaders present for the occasion.

UN Security Council Role in Implementing Syrian Chemical Weapons Deal

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon submitted to the UN Security Council this morning the report of his appointed team of chemical weapons experts on the alleged use of chemical weapons on August 21, 2013 in the Damascus suburbs of Syria. “The report makes for chilling reading,” the Secretary General told reporters after his briefing. “The results are overwhelming and indisputable. This is a war crime.”