I read far more than I am posting on social media of late. Locally, we are consumed by either attacking or defending the government depending of what side you are on; Conservative, Labor, Greens, exLiberals or pushing a new start-up. Attacking Muslims. Even climate change has lost some focus, albeit people are concerned about the upcoming Paris meeting. Anything associated with Malcolm Turnbull does generate a lot of chatter. The Middle East conflict and ISIS have, to some degree been pushed to the ‘back burner’. It’s all rather mundane and more venting than anything else. It’s one of the reasons why I’ve pulled back on posting. I’m not that interested in small talk. However, I read to gauge what interests and occasionally a gem of information pop up.
However, one of the topics that does get a lot of air play is the belief the #UN is a highly questionable and largely ineffective organisation. Their inability to deal with conflicts, reports of widespread abuse within peacekeeping forces in Central Africa (which was covered up) and the inclusion of countries like Saudi Arabia in positions of power within human rights groups alarms people. Add to that, UN criticism of Australia whilst turning blind eyes to endemic abuse elsewhere, their insidious Agenda 21 & Agenda 2030 and their stance on climate change adds to the concern. I think it would be fair to say that the is a widespread opinion that the organisation borders on corruption (in some areas) and that it is far too politically motivated is not without good reason. But it seems to me that whining about it gets us nowhere apart from stoking the egos of a few people who like to hear the sound of their own voice on social media. The repetitive chants of the UN must be closed down, we should tell them where to go etc are futile.
Australia was one of the 51 founding members of the UN when it was formed in 1945. We have been associated with the organisation for the 70-yrs since foundation and we have contributed both money (lots of it) and manpower to UN activities. We are in fact the 12th largest financial contributor. Not all of that investment has been wasted. Millions of lives have improved as a result of our efforts and the efforts of the organisation in general.
We have nominated and been elected a member of the UN Security Council on 5 occasions the latest being 2013 – 2014. That isn't a huge reward for the service we have given; both contribution and manpower. We have also fulfilled the role of President of the UN General Assembly back in 1948. In addition 7 Australians have commanded or led multinational peacekeeping operations.
Approximately 65,000 Australian personnel have been engaged in more than fifty peacekeeping operations, in approximately 25 different conflicts. That engagement has included the such operations as the very important task of clearing landmines, humanitarian aid and repatriation and monitoring cease-fires.
Not everything the UN does is without merit. They help feed well in excess of a 100 million people a year in 80 countries. They feed people in war zones, natural disaster situations, health emergencies, and just plain poor countries. The scale of this is enormous. Today they provide protection and assistance to nearly 55 million refugees, returnees, internally displaced and stateless people. A further 5.1 million registered refugees are being looked after in the Middle East by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. The UN was and still is the leader when it comes to the global battle against HIV/AIDS.
In a world as troubled as ours, I believe there is a need for an organisation like the UN, however changes are needed. This organisation needs to be run by people of the utmost integrity, to help address the many global issues that we face and to work toward the lofty objective of global peace among other things. Despite the social media chorus that we should bail out, it won't happen. Even Tony Abbott didn't go that far and he supported us participating as a member of the security council during his tenure as Prime Minister. Mr Abbott was right to tell the UN we would not be lectured to by them. Like many Australians I am angry about their constant sniping at us over the treatment of refugees when countries like China (a permanent member) and Saudi Arabia the UN’s new ‘best friend’ blithely carry on killing people in their own countries. Furthermore, in the case of Saudi Arabia slaughtering people in the Yemen. I won’t start on western support of terrorist organisations or this would turn into war and peace.
There is a lot of angst being voiced over our declaration that we will nominate for a seat on the Human Rights Council 2018 - 2020. I personally think we should. I can not see us surrendering our membership and despite our last two Conservative Prime Ministers; Howard and Abbott having a tense relationship with the UN they never walked away or surrendered membership. So if as I believe we will continue to be a member of the organisation and we agree it needs to be cleaned up and less politically motivated (and I'll add interfering) then we need a 'louder' voice; a council voice. We need more voices like ours to drive the necessary change.
So rather than complaining, perhaps we should be lobbying as hard as we can to push the government to demand more of a share of voice and perhaps to even push that as far as a permanent member seat along with China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. When you look at the world map there is no permanent member of the Security Council from the Southern Hemisphere, despite the fact that we make up approximately 12% of the world's population. Given our record and our contributions we are in my view the best placed representative below the equator.
As stated, I can't see us walking away despite our desire that we do. So the next best thing is demanding a more permanent role where we can hopefully exert more influence to clean this organisation up and to help control the interference in activities such as ours and to redirect the focus back on the countries with appalling human rights records like so many Middle Eastern and third world countries.
However, one of the topics that does get a lot of air play is the belief the #UN is a highly questionable and largely ineffective organisation. Their inability to deal with conflicts, reports of widespread abuse within peacekeeping forces in Central Africa (which was covered up) and the inclusion of countries like Saudi Arabia in positions of power within human rights groups alarms people. Add to that, UN criticism of Australia whilst turning blind eyes to endemic abuse elsewhere, their insidious Agenda 21 & Agenda 2030 and their stance on climate change adds to the concern. I think it would be fair to say that the is a widespread opinion that the organisation borders on corruption (in some areas) and that it is far too politically motivated is not without good reason. But it seems to me that whining about it gets us nowhere apart from stoking the egos of a few people who like to hear the sound of their own voice on social media. The repetitive chants of the UN must be closed down, we should tell them where to go etc are futile.
Australia was one of the 51 founding members of the UN when it was formed in 1945. We have been associated with the organisation for the 70-yrs since foundation and we have contributed both money (lots of it) and manpower to UN activities. We are in fact the 12th largest financial contributor. Not all of that investment has been wasted. Millions of lives have improved as a result of our efforts and the efforts of the organisation in general.
We have nominated and been elected a member of the UN Security Council on 5 occasions the latest being 2013 – 2014. That isn't a huge reward for the service we have given; both contribution and manpower. We have also fulfilled the role of President of the UN General Assembly back in 1948. In addition 7 Australians have commanded or led multinational peacekeeping operations.
Approximately 65,000 Australian personnel have been engaged in more than fifty peacekeeping operations, in approximately 25 different conflicts. That engagement has included the such operations as the very important task of clearing landmines, humanitarian aid and repatriation and monitoring cease-fires.
Not everything the UN does is without merit. They help feed well in excess of a 100 million people a year in 80 countries. They feed people in war zones, natural disaster situations, health emergencies, and just plain poor countries. The scale of this is enormous. Today they provide protection and assistance to nearly 55 million refugees, returnees, internally displaced and stateless people. A further 5.1 million registered refugees are being looked after in the Middle East by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. The UN was and still is the leader when it comes to the global battle against HIV/AIDS.
In a world as troubled as ours, I believe there is a need for an organisation like the UN, however changes are needed. This organisation needs to be run by people of the utmost integrity, to help address the many global issues that we face and to work toward the lofty objective of global peace among other things. Despite the social media chorus that we should bail out, it won't happen. Even Tony Abbott didn't go that far and he supported us participating as a member of the security council during his tenure as Prime Minister. Mr Abbott was right to tell the UN we would not be lectured to by them. Like many Australians I am angry about their constant sniping at us over the treatment of refugees when countries like China (a permanent member) and Saudi Arabia the UN’s new ‘best friend’ blithely carry on killing people in their own countries. Furthermore, in the case of Saudi Arabia slaughtering people in the Yemen. I won’t start on western support of terrorist organisations or this would turn into war and peace.
There is a lot of angst being voiced over our declaration that we will nominate for a seat on the Human Rights Council 2018 - 2020. I personally think we should. I can not see us surrendering our membership and despite our last two Conservative Prime Ministers; Howard and Abbott having a tense relationship with the UN they never walked away or surrendered membership. So if as I believe we will continue to be a member of the organisation and we agree it needs to be cleaned up and less politically motivated (and I'll add interfering) then we need a 'louder' voice; a council voice. We need more voices like ours to drive the necessary change.
So rather than complaining, perhaps we should be lobbying as hard as we can to push the government to demand more of a share of voice and perhaps to even push that as far as a permanent member seat along with China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. When you look at the world map there is no permanent member of the Security Council from the Southern Hemisphere, despite the fact that we make up approximately 12% of the world's population. Given our record and our contributions we are in my view the best placed representative below the equator.
As stated, I can't see us walking away despite our desire that we do. So the next best thing is demanding a more permanent role where we can hopefully exert more influence to clean this organisation up and to help control the interference in activities such as ours and to redirect the focus back on the countries with appalling human rights records like so many Middle Eastern and third world countries.
