As reported by The Washington Post, UN humanitarian chief Louise Arbour is planning to leave her position this upcoming June. Arbour has clashed repeatedly with the Bush administration, criticizing some of its counterterrorism policies and being scolded in turn for her perceived silence to the more egregious human rights violations of "totalitarian and abusive governments." Working with both upstanding democracies and unsavory dictatorships, Arbour's travails illustrate the fine line that the UN must walk between idealism and practical operation:
Arbour acknowledged that she has taken a more diplomatic approach to promoting human rights in places such as China and Russia, saying she has chosen a strategy of private engagement "that is likely to yield some positive results" over one that "would make me and a lot of others feel good." She said that as a U.N. official she is constrained by the reality of the organization's power centers, including China, Russia and the Group of 77, a bloc of more than 130 developing countries. In that context, she said, "naming and shaming is a loser's game."Arbour's point reminds me of an inversion of a famous maxim of Theodore Roosevelt that Sudan analyst John Prendergast frequently uses to characterize the Bush administration's Darfur policy. By limiting its action to sharp rhetoric, Prendergast contends, the U.S. has effectively pursued a policy of "speaking loudly and carrying a toothpick." Vocal condemnation of countries' human rights policies, as deplorable as they may be, is not the only way to induce a change in behavior, and Arbour is simply articulating the necessity of working within the UN system. When faced with the alternatives of unilateralism or inaction, this remains a laudable goal, even if some aspects of the UN, such as the Human Rights Council -- over which, incidentally, Arbour's office exercises no control -- fall short of the ideal level of reform. Instead of merely pointing its fingers at the transparent violations of notorious human rights abusers, the U.S. should work with the UN to effectively address these issues -- and should focus on cleaning up its own act as well.