For anyone who knows the workings of the UN, the recent report by its so-called Experts does not come as a surprise.With over 60,000 people on its payroll, efficiency and monitoring is a gigantic task. Bureaucracy is the order of the day, and so to keep its engines rolling, it needs billions of dollars to keep it afloat, and a paper trail of countless reports to make its existence relevant.Yes, the UN is an important institution, if one goes by its founding principles. But when it falls prey to some powerful financial contributor or influence peddler, then it does not serve the interests of humanity, but relegates its allegiance to which side its bread is buttered.Reports of the aloofness of UN field employees. vis-à-vis the local populations, the often reported cases of their excesses, and sometimes outright mediocrity, reach the UN headquarters in New York and that’s the end of it.But why this kind of lethargy?It would not come as a surprise that in most cases, the errant UN staff has some godfather larking somewhere in the shadows ready to clean up the mess, not only to save his or her protégée, but most importantly, to preserve the pristine image of the world body.Back to the UN Experts’ report and its amateurish fairytale: It would be interesting to know who selected the team; what criteria they followed or whether they ran a background check on them.Were they people of impeccable and unquestionable character, with no particular bias? Or were they just pushed down the UN’s throat by those who had ulterior motives?That’s the Billion Dollar question.
