As I read former Alberta premier Alison Redford’s column announcing her resignation as MLA for Calgary-Elbow, I couldn’t help think about the United Nations. Is the UN where Redford learned her high-flying ways and her obvious sense of entitlement?
On the eve of the scathing Alberta auditor general’s report into her misuse of government planes and expenses, Redford wrote about her time working for the UN as a human-rights lawyer.
“I was appointed by the United Nations as one of the four international election commissioners to administer Afghanistan’s first parliamentary election. I have had assignments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Namibia, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and the Philippines,” wrote Redford.
Having many friends who work for charitable organizations that rush into the world’s most grave crises, I have long heard the stories about just how entitled many UN workers are and how lavish many of them live while they are tasked to ostensibly help the poorest of the poor.
In November 2001, after the U.S. started bombing Afghanistan to bring down the medieval Taliban regime, many Afghans fled to the Iranian border with the hope of refuge.
I spoke to Sean Campbell, then the executive director of Samaritan’s Purse Canada, on the phone, and his frustration with the UN’s agencies on the ground in Afghanistan was so palpable, I could feel it through the phone lines. Campbell was working desperately to get tents, tarps, cook stoves, fuel, blankets, food and children’s shoes to the internally displaced Afghan families amassing at the border with Iran, which refused to let the hordes into their country.
While numerous non-governmental organizations had congregated at the Pakistani border with Afghanistan, Samaritan’s Purse was the only NGO operating at the Iranian-Afghanistan border. Despite Campbell’s diplomacy and gentleness, he was unable to hide his frustration at the UN High Commission for Refugees.
Because the displaced Afghans were not allowed to cross the border into another country, the UN refused to declare them refugees and help them in any way.
“The UN has 20,000 tents that are just sitting in warehouses in Zahedan [Afghanistan], and who knows what else, but unless these desperate people walk the four kilometres and make it past the border, the UN is just going to ignore them,” said an outraged Campbell at the time.
So it was left to Samaritan’s Purse to buy all the gear that helped those desperate people to make it through the winter.
Campbell, who has worked for arms of the UN, says short-term UN projects with set objectives can be “very effective.” But large international organizations often do little while sitting back and watching NGOs like Samaritan’s Purse do all the work.
“You see them driving the best vehicles and eating the best meals, and you just spent 14 hours in the refugee camp and you never see them there,” he said. “That’s what I observed in Bosnia. You’d see them driving around all the time, and we’re in the hospitals and the refugee camps and we’re getting bombed and we’re providing equipment, and you’re wondering, where are you guys?
“And you come back late at night, and they’re having a big dinner and are on their third bottle of wine, and it really kind of makes you sick.”
Other friends who work for NGOs that do amazing life-saving and enhancing work have made similar observations.
Alberta auditor general Merwan Saher blamed an “aura of power” around the premier’s office that left bureaucrats “wary” of challenging Redford and her staff, that led to the inappropriate use of government planes and resources.
Saher found that Redford used government aircraft for personal and partisan reasons, and held seats using phoney “place holder” passengers, and then removed them prior to the flight manifest being printed to ensure she could travel in relative privacy.
Perhaps Redford grew accustomed to such luxury while working for the UN?
That would explain a lot.
Licia Corbella is the Calgary Herald’s editorial page editor.
