The rogue nation of North Korea has been chosen to lead the United Nations Conference on Disarmament. Yes it is that time of the year again when people only recognize the United Nations as existing because of an outlandish decision to have a dictator lead a council which contradicts everything it stands for.
The United Nations have justified the appointment by stating that it was an "automatic rotation." The defense of "Well, it's their turn" should no longer be accepted by the international body. The Conference will report to the United Nations General Assembly which passes non-binding optional resolutions.
A peace-keeping body such as the United Nations should have skipped over North Korea in light of several military actions taken against South Korea over the past two years (minimum), it's continued attempts to create and grow a nuclear arsenal (contradictory?), and it's well documented ties to helping others grow theirs (see Syria, 2007).
If the United Nations wants to regain legitimacy in the American public and in places around the world where it's practices are being called into question, they must begin removing countries under sanction from chairing these important committees. There is a clear conflict of interest in letting the ambassador from North Korea chair a committee on nuclear weapons. The proper thing to do as an added diplomatic measure would have been to penalize the North Koreans by selecting the nation after them to chair the committee.
In order to keep the peace-keeping body around and to maintain a level of legitimacy by reforming the chair selection committee. When the UN allows for these kind of events it adds fuel to the fire for its growing number of critics calling for an end to the body. With principled reforms such as the one listed above and a few others we could have a legitimate place for diplomats to discuss peace, and make recommendations as to how this peace can be brought about.
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