The UN’s Shameful Silence

The Wall Street Journal has a chilling view into the UN’s utter failure to deal with the ongoing genocide in the Sudan. For all the talk about how the UN is the only body that has the right to do anything to interfere in a humanitarian crisis, the shameful pattern of inaction that was exhibited by the UN in the 1990s with Rwanda is happening once again. From the article:

A better measure of Europe’s concern about Darfur was evident at the recent European Union summit, where one has to turn to page 18 of the summit conclusions to find a small paragraph about Darfur. The most forceful language the EU could muster was “deep concern” regarding Sudan’s “humanitarian crisis,” as if what is happening in Darfur is a tragic act of nature rather than a rampage by murderous, ruthless men.

If Europe won’t come to the rescue of the people of Darfur, how about their fellow Muslims? The Arab League statement at its May summit didn’t mention Darfur at all. Instead, it reaffirmed “the Arab states’ solidarity with the sisterly Republic of Sudan, and their determination to preserve its unity and territorial integrity.” Kamel Labidi explains the Muslim world’s moral failure in a related column.

Nor, alas, can the Sudanese people expect much from their fellow Africans. It was the Africa bloc at the U.N. that played a key role in the farce that resulted in Sudan’s re-appointment to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in May. Sudan’s fellow Africans also helped undermine a resolution in April designed to appoint a special human rights rapporteur for Darfur. Yes, the African Union is leading a group of observers to monitor a cease-fire that has yet to take hold. But it is sending a grand total of 120 troops–including a munificent contribution of six from Europe–to monitor a region the size of France.

The fact that a country like Sudan is even allowed on a human rights commission shows what an absolute and utter joke the UN has become. The situation in Sudan must be stopped, and that means committing large numbers of troops to keep the peace to prevent the Arab janjaweed militias from continuing their raping and murdering across Darfur. Considering that France and German have both opted not to commit any troops to Iraq, they should have no problem sparing the manpower to stop an ongoing genocide.

The EU talks a great deal about human rights and the primacy of international law, but when it comes to a massive and ongoing genocide in the Sudan those concepts apparently have no urgency beyond a few strong words buried in an obscure government report. Instead it’s simply assumed that the United States should once again bear the burden of becoming the world’s policeman while simultaneously being spit on by the UN and the EU. As the article notes:

It is fashionable these days to express distaste for American “unilateralism” and “hegemony.” The unfolding catastrophe in Darfur offers a chilling view of what the alternative really looks like.

Indeed, the situation in Darfur shows just how toothless and impotent the UN truly is. The UN belongs in the dustbin of history, another failed attempt at creating an international body felled by its own institutional arrogance and lack of effectiveness. It is clear that if the rest of the world does not have the will to act to stop the genocide in the Sudan, the US must.

UPDATE: Dear God, I find myself in agreement with MoveOn.org on this one. I’ll call hell and tell them to get their ice skates on…