Zimbabwe as head of UN body for sustainable development is a good thing.
The sick puppies at The Economist applaud the choice of Zimbabwe as chair of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development with the perverse but brilliant reasons that "making bad countries run good causes is actually a promising notion" (2007-05-19 p13), and citing the taming of Libya from its chairing of the UN Human Rights Commission.
The argue that this encourages scrutiny of the body, and criticism of the host nation, and make other suggestions, including the following:
- Turkmenistan for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
- A narco-state for the UN drug programme.
- Saudi Arabia for the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
- China for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Labour Organization.
- North Korea for headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency
I’ve got another suggestion in the same spirit: given our actions, Australia should host the UN High Commission for Refugees.
Stories the server thinks are related:
Posted: by David Bath May 21st, 2007 under International, Governance.
Comments: 2
Comments
Comment from Kieran
Time: May 21, 2007, 4:04 pm
That reasoning is as bad as libertarians who advocate supporting carbon taxation, because it might be a way to sneak in cuts to more progressive taxes.
Comment from Dave Bath
Time: May 21, 2007, 4:25 pm
Here’s an example (N.Korea for IAEA HQ):
The IAEA’s staff might find the austere delights of Pyongyang a bit of a contrast from the cosy comforts of Vienna, but the arrival of dozens of nuclear snoopers would certainly make it harder for the regime there to cover its tracks.
Or on the ILO:
Based in Beijing, the ILO would find many more chains to loosen than it does in the worker’s paradise of Switzerland.
Their final words?
Sudan has not signed up to it, otherwise the International Criminal Court could be packing its briefcases for Khartoum. Sadly, when it comes to regimes that serially abuse their people, there is plenty of competition.
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