Sad Realities

On Thursday afternoon, our group had the privilege of visiting the UNDP office (United Nations Development Program) in La Paz. Growing up I remember being in awe of the UN. All the national flags in front of the impressive building in downtown New York, the huge auditorium filled with important people from all over the world, and the commercials of Blue Berets soldiers lifting corn sacks out of truck beds to feed starving children in Africa inspired respect and wonder. However, learning about the specifics of this institution turned out to be a rather sobering experience.

Recurring sex trafficking or extortion scandals and their resulting cover-ups, the little-publicized cholera outbreak in Haiti caused by UN soldiers, as well as the systemic failures during peacekeeping missions such as the one in Rwanda, are only some examples that indicate the sweeping problems (such as lack of accountability) plaguing this institution. While I understand the realpolitik limitations of such a voluntary multi-national mega project, the reality of the UN’s suffocating bureaucracy is still disappointing.

During our visit to the UNDP, the presenter also spoke at length about the local UNHRC branch. Turns out that ‘enforcement’ is a difficult and controversial term for the UN. The best they can hope to do is try to encourage respect for human rights. Unsurprisingly, issuing recommendations and statements is often not enough.

The continued presence of UNHRC branches relies on sustaining the good will of the host nation. Logically, this results in a skewed power dynamic that does not set the stage for efficient “enforcement” or even reporting of human rights violations. For Bolivia specifically that means that while citizens technically enjoy a wide range of human rights, in practice, the government often fails to respect or enforce these rights. One very prominent example of this is the police abuse of peaceful indigenous protestors during the 2011 TIPNIS conflict. 

The UNHRC response to such events is the issuing of a yearly report, carefully worded and balancing criticism with praise, begging for better national implementation of the Charter. With the nationalization of the gas and oil industries filling the national coffers, Bolivia has become less and less reliant on UN donor money. This has further decreased all of the local UN branches social and political influence.  The UN employee accurately described the situation as the UNHRC having its “hands tied.”

Sadly, the UN resembles more closely a sad and toothless tiger, rather than the superhero world police organization that I had believed it to be as a child.