Candor American-Global Relations | Page 20

Thanks to the U.S. contribution into the United Nations, U.N. peacekeepers were given opportunities to save many lives and prevent battles from happening. However, the U.N. and its issues involving corruption, the countermeasures to prevent it, and our role to pay for it has caused a headache for America.

Fraud and Failure

According to Fox News, Studies show that in multiple U.N. peacekeeping operations mandated to protect civilians, “peacekeepers did not report 80% of the incidents where the civilians were attacked” by insurgent forces. An example would be where a failure to respond to the South Sudan hotel attack, which was only less than a mile from a U.N. compound. Additional reports from Fox News show that U.N. personnel have been accused for sexual exploitation and abuse in Bosnia, Burundi, Cambodia, Congo, Guinea, Kosovo, Sierra Leone. Multiple news stories from Central African Republic and Haiti emphasize the issue.

Procurement Task Force

The U.N. fought this corruption with the addition of the Procurement Task Force. They uncovered fraud and mismanagement involving contracts that add up to $630 million. The PTF also was able to file four reports confirming 20 corruption actions among the U.N. The task force was handled perfectly and was able to battle out corruption of the U.N. Although in 2008, the PTF was eliminated. The countries that sent their nationals were unhappy with the PTF actions against them, which stirred an uproar.

UNITED NATIONS PAINS THE U.S.

By Hanson Vu

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