United Nations so-called “peacekeeping” troops are once again at the center of global outrage. Among other scandals, the UN and forces under its command are facing lawsuits and fresh waves of criticism for everything from corruption and lawlessness to spreading deadly diseases and even sexually abusing civilian populations in countries they occupy — an ongoing problem with UN troops that has been documented around the world. The UN, however, claims to be essentially immune, sparking further anger as thousands of Haitians continue to die from cholera spread by its “peace” forces.
In recent days and weeks, scandal-plagued UN war-making forces — dubbed “peacekeepers” in an Orwellian example of deceptive doublespeak — have faced accusations on three primary fronts. The first is a lawsuit filed in U.S. courts noting that the global entity’s soldiers were responsible for a ferocious outbreak of cholera in Haiti that has claimed almost 10,000 lives so far. Then there is a new report outlining widespread corruption within the organization’s forces and the lack of accountability.
Finally, fresh accusations of UN troops raping and sexually exploiting civilians in occupied nations — a common occurrence, as The New American and countless other sources have documented — emerged out of Mali. So-called “blue helmets” with the UN “peacekeeping” mission in the war-torn nation, dubbed the “United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali” (MINUSMA), for example, have been accused of rape and other serious misconduct.
The UN, which has more than 6,000 troops and self-styled “police” in Mali after rebels in the north declared independence and a coup unseated the regime in the capital city Bamako, acknowledged the accusations and claimed to be acting on them. A spokesman for the dictator-dominated planetary entity also alleged that the UN mission worked to preserve evidence and assist victims, implausibly claiming that there was “zero tolerance” for sexual abuse perpetrated by its forces.
“The Secretary-General is treating this matter with the utmost seriousness and, in line with established procedure, is in the process of notifying the troop contributing countries,” UN boss Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman, Martin Nesirky, told a news briefing in New York late last month. “The troop contributing country has primary responsibility for investigating the matter and ensuring that appropriate disciplinary and judicial measures are taken should the allegations be well founded.”
The spokesman continued by offering the usual platitudes aimed at boosting the UN’s embattled image. “The UN Mission in Mali is committed to the highest standards of conduct by all its personnel, military, police and civilian,” he claimed. “The Secretary-General has a policy of zero tolerance for any form of sexual exploitation and abuse, and will do everything possible to see that a thorough process of investigation and, as appropriate, accountability takes place.”
Despite those soothing statements, it is not the first time that UN-backed forces have been accused of atrocities in Mali. In fact, earlier this year, after the global body purported to “authorize” an international invasion of the country, troops supported by the Obama administration, the Socialist French government, and the UN were implicated in summary executions and mass human rights abuses targeting innocent civilians.
The atrocities in Mali, though, follow a long pattern of UN troops or fighters backed by the global entity perpetrating horrific crimes. Among the more recent examples that could be cited is Libya. There, foreign powers fighting under a UN “mandate” bombed civilians, destroyed civil infrastructure, and more — in addition to overtly supporting al-Qaeda-linked jihadists implicated in ethnic cleansing of blacks, torture, mass murder, and other war crimes. The nation is still in chaos.
In the Ivory Coast before that, the UN and the French government — again with full support from the Obama administration — backed brutal Islamist militias to overthrow the Christian president of the country. After the disputed election, the Supreme Court ruled that the existing Christian president won, but the UN, France, and Obama disagreed, waging a brutal war to install a Muslim central banker as president in a campaign that left thousands of innocent Christians massacred throughout the country. In official U.S. documents released by WikiLeaks, UN troops were also exposed raping young Ivorian girls.
In 2010, meanwhile, anger was growing after “peacekeeping” forces under UN command and troops backed by the global body were accused by human rights groups of raping, pillaging, and massacring civilians from Somalia to the Congo. According to news reports, officials, aid organizations, and even a UN-backed “Group of Experts,” the planetary entity was sponsoring carnage and savagery on a massive scale. Even the reliably pro-establishment Associated Press covered the horrors in an article entitled “UN-Backed Congo Troops Killing, Raping Civilians.”
Going further back, history is also replete with UN-sponsored atrocities. In Rwanda, for example, UN “disarmament” bureaucrats forcibly disarmed civilians, many of whom were later exterminated in a government-backed genocide. In the early 1960s, the UN waged a ruthless war against the anti-communist people of Katanga in a bid to force them to submit to communist tyranny. Once the population was subjugated and terrorized into submission, the global entity perpetrated ghastly war crimes — documented in numerous books and documentaries — including massacres of civilians, attacks on medical personnel, and more.
Aside from the now-typical allegations of sexual terror perpetrated by its troops, the international body is also coming under fire for “negligence” in importing cholera into disaster-ravaged Haiti — another country where UN “peacekeepers” have developed a sordid reputation for sexually abusing and raping civilians. Nobody, not even the UN, disputes the fact that its peacekeepers brought cholera to Haiti after a powerful 2010 earthquake. According to estimates cited in media reports, more than 8,300 people have died from the outbreak, over 650,000 have fallen ill, and about 1,000 continue to die from it each year.
The UN claims to be immune from accountability. Attorneys, however, are challenging that assertion in court. “Basically the United Nations has stonewalled throughout this entire process,” said civil rights lawyer Ira Kurzban, who helped file the suit in U.S. court. “Instead of immediately helping the Haitian people, they spent months denying their responsibility and took no action.” Spokesmen for the UN refused to comment on the lawsuit but claimed to be “committed” to “help” Haiti.
In addition to the sex and disease scandals swirling around the UN, known to critics as the “dictators club,” a new report by the London-based Transparency International UK highlighted even more problems with its “peacekeeping” schemes. “There is no general UN Peacekeeping policy relating to corruption,” noted the executive summary of the report, which discusses documented examples of bribery, theft, fraud, and more in the global entity’s “peace” operations. “Peacekeeping mandates rarely, if ever, mention it and peacekeeping training centers currently do not include specific training on how to identify risk or address corruption.”
Of course, examples of UN corruption, atrocities, lies, abuse, tyrannical machinations, power grabs, and other troubling issues abound. Despite its track record, however, the global body continues to become more powerful. At this point, analysts and experts who have tracked the UN for decades say the body is actually on the verge of transforming itself into a global government, with its “peacekeeping” forces set to play a key role in enforcing its will.
The implications should be alarming to all Americans who cherish liberty, the Constitution, and national independence — especially as the UN becomes increasingly bold in its demands for curtailing U.S. freedom and sovereignty on guns, self-defense, states’ rights, and more. It is past time for Congress to completely defund and withdraw from the scandal-plagued, dictator-packed global body.
Decades of its history should be more than enough to illustrate that point clearly. Recent developments, though, add even more strength and urgency to the case for getting the U.S. out of the UN immediately. As widely corrupt UN “peacekeepers” encircle the globe — raping, spreading disease, and killing as they go — there is no excuse for U.S. taxpayers to continue funding it all.
Photo of UN peacekeeping troops in a parade
Alex Newman, a foreign correspondent for The New American, is normally based in Europe. He can be reached at [email protected].
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