Murray McCully during a visit to the US State Department (Getty Images)

The Soap Box: UN criticism like shouting at the wind

Opinion

Author: Felix Marwick ,
Publish Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2015, 7:47AM

With the New Zealand government having let rip again at the United Nations and its performance on Syria the questions have to be asked: What's the point and what is its record?

Foreign Minister Murray McCully has been damning of the UN Security Council and its failure to have no more than a discussion on Syria as world leaders have congregated in New York.

It's not a new attitude from McCully - in 2013 he said the UN and its Security Council were failing in their obligations. All that has changed are the dates.

While McCully is right that the UN has dismally failed on Syria, it should come as no surprise to anyone who has only a passing understanding of the UN and its politics. When difficult issues arise, where superpowers such as the US and Russia have competing interests, then stalemate and inaction are the inevitable results.

Innocents bleed and die on the altar of political interest. 'Twas ever thus with the United Nations. The Foreign Minister's criticisms, strident though they may be, are no more effective than shouting at the wind.

There is also a certain irony in the critique. Much of the stalemate and inaction over Syria is down to the veto powers held by the five permanent members of the Security Council. Yet when New Zealand held the Council's presidency earlier this year reform of those veto powers were not on its agenda. Why? Because our diplomats knew raising the issue was a lost cause. They weren't prepared to fight a battle they knew they couldn't win.

This is something that needs to be remembered the next time we hear our political leaders talk about the need for reform at the United Nations.

In terms of putting the money where the mouth is, New Zealand hasn't been silent, but nor has it exactly been shouting from the rooftops. $20 million (77 percent of a flag referenda) has been spent on humanitarian aid. The government agreed to take in 750 Syrian refugees over the next two and a half years (a mere 13 percent of the net gain in migrants the country had in August), and over 140 NZDF personnel have been sent to Iraq to help train the Iraqi armed forces at a cost of $65 million (around 200 million less than what the government spent on direct funding for the 2011 Rugby World Cup).

When you put it in perspective, it could be argued the government's deeds fall far short of its rhetoric.