Outside the Beltway

Iran Elected Vice-Chair of UN Disarmament Commission

Richard Gardner · Friday, April 21, 2006 · 1 comment

In yet another United Nations irony, Iran has been elected the Vice-Chairman of the current UN Commission on Disarmament along with Chile and Uruguay. What’s next, Sudan on the Human Rights Commission? (Oops, that happened.) The election was on April 10, but is only getting noticed now.

As Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) protests,

The election of Iran as a vice-chair of the U.N. Disarmament Commission at the same time as Iran clandestinely pursues its own nuclear ambitions provides yet another example of the U.N.’s inability to establish credible institutions to deal with global issues,” Coleman, R-Minn., said in a statement. “Having the Iranians serve on this commission is like asking the fox to guard the hens, and will only ensure its ineffectiveness.”

As does Senate Majority Leader Frist

I condemn the recent selection of Iran to the Vice-Chairmanship of the U.N. Disarmament Commission. It’s completely unacceptable that Iran, which is pursuing nuclear weapons and widely recognized by the international community as a flagrant violator of non-proliferation agreements, should even be granted membership, let alone a leadership position, on the U.N.’s disarmament panel.

For close to two decades, the Iranian regime has been covertly pursuing an illicit nuclear program. The Iranian nuclear program is a grave threat to the United States, our interests, and our friends and allies. Iran should not be permitted to serve on the U.N. Disarmament Commission at a time when the international community is seeking to end Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Last month, Iran, an egregious abuser of human rights, also announced its candidacy for the newly created U.N. Human Rights Council. These examples serve as additional reminders of why the U.N. is in need of serious reform. The United States has rightly decided not to participate in the new Human Rights Council. I urge the Administration to do the same with the U.N. Disarmament Commission and to refuse to fund either of these bodies.

So long as corrupt and rogue regimes continue to use membership on U.N. bodies such as the Human Rights Council and Disarmament Commission to advance their own nefarious interests, the U.N. will never attain the credibility it needs to be an effective and accountable organization.

Actually though, the Conference on Disarmament is usually a bag of gas that produces nothing, though the symbolism is important in international oneupmanship. There are also the First Committee and the Conference on Disarmament which I feel are more important, and yes, there are many layers in the UN. This is small potatoes, but the symbolism is important. For fair-and-balanced, here is the Iranian press release which blames the world’s problems on the USA and Israel, imagine that.

For entertainment, Cuba’s statement includes Cuba’s proposal to “devote at least half the current military expenditures to meet the needs of economic and social development through a United Nations-managed fund,” as “One country, the United States, spent the same on arms as the rest of the world. The United States also produced 60 per cent of all the world’s arms.”