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Tayo Olanipekun
President of the United Nations Security Council, Ambassador Nikki Haley, has said the U.N. is too silent on the role corruption plays in fueling violence, instability and criminal activities in countries.
Haley, who is the U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN, said this yesterday when he chaired a Security Council meeting on corruption,emphasizing that corruption plays “undeniable role in leading to and exacerbating violence and conflict.”
According to a statement from the U.S. Office of Press and Public Diplomacy made available to National Wire,the U.S.-organized thematic briefing was the first time the Security Council ever focused on corruption and its consequences for conflict around the world.
Haley said nine out of the 10 countries that Transparency International (TI)considers the most corrupt in the world are on the Security Council agenda,a fact he said the U.N.has ignored.
Nigeria is ranked 148 out of 180 countries on the TI latest Corruption Index and the country has in recent years experienced killings as a result of insurgency and conflicts between herders and communities over natural resources.
“We pour billions and billions of dollars into trying to fix these problems. We deploy blue helmets, we set up massive assistance missions. We send experts to all corners of the globe. But we fail to recognize the issue that is staring us in the face – corruption,” said Ambassador Haley.
He lamented that instead of reflecting on why this is the case, the United Nations is too often willing to ignore corruption.
Haley added:”We fear that addressing it will put off governments and shut off cooperation. Or we regard corruption as just the ‘cost of doing business’ in some countries.”
He noted that the approach is backwards because in the most troubled countries in the world, “corruption isn’t simply a part of the system. Corruption is the system.”
The Ambassador said last year, his country demonstrated that human rights is an issue of peace and security and this year make the same argument for the Council’s time and attention on the issue of corruption.
He,however,urged his “colleagues who are serious about fulfilling their duties” as members of the Security Council to take a longer view.
“If we fail to take seriously the issue of corruption now, we will doom ourselves to deal with the violence it creates in the future,” Haley warned.
