United Nations ambassadors and their embassies owe U.S. banks, landlords, and merchants more than $9 million, and some have been delinquent on their debts for more than two years!
"The problem of diplomatic indebtedness is a matter of significant concern," admits UN Secretary- General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. "Non-payment of just debts reflects badly on the entire diplomatic community and tarnishes the image of the United Nations itself." As much as it may worry the Secretary-General, the tarnished image of the UN is the least of concerns for the unfortunate New York City businesses left holding the bag. And some observers would argue that the UN's image isn't nearly as tarnished as it deserves to be.
The debt of the deadbeat diplomats stood at roughly $1 million in 1990, but the UN's head-in-the-sand reaction allowed it to multiply by a factor of nine in just five years. Moreover, it was only at the insistence of the U.S. mission and the City of New York that the debt was made public at all. The names of the offending diplomats, however, remained secret. A vote by the U.S. Senate at the end of July, withholding $10 million from the UN until the names of the diplomats are disclosed, may loosen some lips.
About 80 percent of the $9 million debt is owed to banks and landlords, the rest to merchants. According to Boutros-Ghali, 31 missions have contributed to the debt, but five alone account for 83 percent of it. Those five are rumored to be the African nations of Sierra Leone, Congo, Zaire, Liberia, and the Central African Republic.
"Some missions had not paid rent for two years or more," reports Boutros-Ghali. "And a number of residential landlords had either lost their property or were at risk of losing it because diplomatic tenants, who could not be evicted, would neither pay their rent nor leave the property."
New Yorkers don't like getting stiffed, and they're becoming increasingly reluctant to offer their goods and services to foreign legates. The billion dollars of revenue that the UN supposedly generates for the city each year is offset by the cost of services the city must provide, and by the aggravation caused by diplomats who flout local laws and abuse their privilege of immunity.
Americans outside of New York derive no economic benefit whatsoever from the UN, but the price we pay as taxpayers is substantial, given the status of the United States as the UN's largest contributor. The real cost of the UN, however, must be reckoned in liberties and lives lost.
Next Wednesday marks the fiftieth anniversary of the ratification of the United Nations Charter by the United States Senate on October 25, 1945. For the next two weeks, the major media will trumpet the dubious achievements of this would-be world government, while ignoring the myriad ways in which the United Nations undermines the sovereignty of our country and threatens the individual rights protected by our U.S. Constitution.
