Throughout the history of the UN, there have been many cases of corruption recorded. One of the most famous cases involved the former head of the United Nations’ oil-for-food program in Iraq who took kickbacks to help an oil company win contracts. Another senior UN official was also accused of soliciting bribes.
Scandals involving different entities from the UN have also been recorded, like the WFP in Somalia. Money and food has been siphoned off, like through shipping companies that transported the food. The involvement of USAID, however, puts into question the motive that this company had since it had been involved in multiple US regime change plots around the world.
Another scandal to have hot the UN involved UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who buckled under Saudi pressure to take it off a child killer list which involved deaths of children in the war on Yemen. The UN chief admitted it had succumbed to extortion.
A Harvard University study also concluded that rotating UN members would trade their votes for political or financial favors. The US issued “promises of rich rewards” to rotating members in exchange for their support during the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
But with the US providing up to 28% of the UN budget, there are concerns that it may use this as political leverage, which has been the case regarding Israel. The US has threatened the UN on numerous occasions to not include Israel in lists involving deaths, like the war on Gaza.
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