[afro-nets] Mr Bolton in the UN 3 weeks (2)

[Peter Burgess <Profitinafrica@aol.com>]

Mr Bolton in the UN 3 weeks (2)
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Dear Colleagues

I am not sure I agree with a lot of Ambassador Bolton's red-
lining... but there is no question the UN, the General Assembly,
all the structures and its operating agencies need to be looked
at with a clear focus on cost and value delivered...

There are a lot of problems... and they should be addressed. I
would prefer to see practical action to help people and reduce
poverty high on the agenda for reform... and I would like to see
the initiatives defined by the "south" rather than by the
"north". Perhaps the 60th year anniversary should be cancelled
and the funds used to do something useful. Spending effort on
the MDG's is nonsense... making rapid progress NOW is what
should be happening... not working slowly towards failed objec-
tives 15 years from now. The way the expectation of life is
dropping in Africa, there won't be much of a population left in
15 years time.

Perhaps I am in a bad mood because of Niger. Information coming
out of Niger back in last November... nothing happened at the UN
or anywhere else... later some NGOs started making more
noise.... nothing... and then BBC does a piece.... and everyone
suddenly wakes up... and now action plans everywhere... and to
crown the achievement... the UN Secretary General makes a visit
to Niger. If this is not a disfunctional system, I don't know
what is.

Surely the world can do better than this. But as long as the UN
remains the way it is... and as long as people rely on the UN
and have expectations that it will perform... the world will re-
main in this disfunctional mode.


Peter Burgess
Tr-Ac-Net in New York
Tel.: +212-772 6918
mailto:peterbnyc@gmail.com
The Transparency and Accountability Network
With Kris Dev in Chennai India
and others in South Asia, Africa and Latin America
http://tr-ac-net.blogspot.com