Liberty Expose: The UN’s Moral Bankruptcy

In a move that surprised precisely no one, the United Nations recently voted overwhelmingly to condemn the United States for its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The ultimately tally in the vote was 128 in favor of the condemnation, to nine opposed. 35 nations abstained. Those in favor include American allies such as the United Kingdom and France, as well as the usual suspects of Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran.

 The opposition consisted of primarily Pacific Islands and Central American nations such as the Marshall Islands, Togo, Honduras and Nicaragua, the latter of which as already announced its intention to move its embassy to Jerusalem. Those who have abstained from taking apposition include, Australia, Canada, and Mexico.

It is typical of the UN to do something like this: within the past year, 86% of resolutions passed by the UN have been against Israel. According to the United Nations, Israel commits the overwhelming majority of human rights in the world. This is completely ridiculous.

Let’s look at the recent history of human rights by region. In Latin America, the socialist government of Venezuela has strangled the economy to such a degree that its citizens have been relegated to eating dogs in order to fend off starvation. Another socialist government, Cuba, manages to be the only nation in North America to still hold political prisoners.

Africa is rampant in persecution and corruption. Now-former Zimbabwean, Robert Mugabe, is responsible for ethnic cleansing, amongst other crimes. The Jacob Zuma government in South Africa is the personification of corruption.

In Europe, Russia journalists who investigate government corruption have a habit of getting murdered under mysterious circumstances. Also, oddly enough, it just so happens that those who stand up to Vladimir Putin find themselves in jail on trumped up charges. And as Russian law goes, those who go to jail are prohibited from seeking office. How convenient for Putin.

Across the Black Sea from Russia is Turkey. Turkey used to be a beacon in the Islamic World; it was a Muslim nation that tried to divorce itself from theocratic government and attempted to allocate a sphere of respect for journalists and academics. Under Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that beacon has burned out. As of late, Turkey has jailed journalists and academics who do not align ideologically with Erdogan – including foreign journalists posted in Turkey. Like Putin, Erdogan shows no hesitation in starting wars in order to promote his political causes.

Below Turkey in the Middle East, we have an almost innumerable amount of human rights violations that define Middle Eastern governments. In order to save time, let’s just look at Syria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

In Syria, dictator Bashar al-Assad has gassed his own people on numerous occasions and tortures dissidents, without regard for age.

 The Yemeni civil war, the blockade against rebel-controlled areas has resulted in a Cholera outbreak that just reached a million fatalities. In the meantime, Saudi Arabia carelessly bombs civilian targets. When not bombing the Yemeni population, Saudi Arabia is oppressing its own population, particularly its women. Only within the last few months has the Saudi government put up the notion of allowing women to drive to debate. With such strides, maybe women in the Saudi kingdom will one day be allowed into public without be accompanied by a man – which is also mandatory there. Such a record in woman’s rights has caused the UN to put Saudi Arabia on its woman’s rights counsel. The rest of the Middle East is rampant with persecution of women, homosexuals, and religious minorities (with the exception of Israel, where women, homosexuals, and minorities enjoy equal rights), but, to reiterate my earlier point, time is of the essence.

Next to the Middle East and going into South Asia, we have honor killings and the persecutions of Christians in Pakistan. Both of which are illegal, but both of which the Pakistani government seems to do little to prevent. Perhaps the Pakistani government is too preoccupied with funding terrorist groups destined and building the largest nuclear weapons stockpile in the world.

Going into Southeast Asia, the Rohingya, a Muslim minority group in Myanmar, is enduring ethic cleansing by the Myanmar military. the state counsellor of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her commitment to democracy and human rights, has not alleviated the suffering of the Rohingya people.

East Asia has the usual problems associated with China and North Korea. China is still continuing to oppress those who speak out against the regime. Recall the kidnappings of booksellers of Hong Kong. Much has already been written on North Korea. The Kim regime has, in a word, made North Korea into Stalinist gulag. Those who try to leave are shot at, and family members of defectors find themselves in slave labor camps.

To finish off the grand global tour of human rights violators, let’s go to the Pacific and observe the Philippines. Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte, or “the Punisher,” as he is referred, has launched an extralegal drug war of assonating drug offenders in the street. and not just dealers – those who use drugs are libel to be shot by government forces.

Now, Israel is not above criticism. However, Israel does not gas its own population like Syria does. Israel does not murder opposition journalists like Russia does. Israel does not drive their people into starvation like Venezuela does. Israel does not regulate information sources like China does. And Israel does not convict its citizens of political crimes and subsequently exiles them to labor camps like North Korea does. Just within the human rights tarpit that is the Middle East, Israel stands alone has the truest respecter of human dignity.

It is illogical that Israel receives such an intensive amount of criticism. The UN has even labeled Israel has the number one woman’s rights abusers. That includes the rest of the Middle East. Why such an extreme amount of persecution? There is only one aspect that separates Israel from the rest of the world: Israel is the sole Jewish state. Much, if not all, of the attacks Israel receives stems from pure anti-Semitism. A disease that seems to have infected the UN.

The United Nation encapsulates the dichotomy of Western optimism. It is the paradox between romanticism and reality: the UN, founded under the auspices of promoting peace and freedom, has become a moral cesspool of hypocrisy and anti-Semitism. While the world is rampant with suffering and persecution, the UN decided to focus their efforts on the Jewish State. What moral authority the UN did have has been lost.

Americans, as well as citizens of any UN member state, should take note of this when observing the actions of the United Nations. Until the institution is reformed, if ever, the actions taken by the UN should be thought of within the context of what that organization is: a corrupt institution that forfeited its moral legitimacy.