With such a large amount of IGO (mostly bad) news and activities around the world, it’s hard to keep track. Still, some things never change. It seems that almost every month we read about more scandals, more waste of taxpayer dollars, and more proposals by international bureaucrats to tax even more of our hard-earned money. And, sadly, this month is no different.  Here is a brief overview of the most important IGO events from November.

The WHO’s Sham Investigation of China and Covid-19

After 9 months and more than 1.1 million deaths after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, there is still no transparent, independent investigation into the source of the virus. Notoriously resistant to outside scrutiny, the Chinese Communist Party has impeded all efforts, while the leaders of the World Health Organization (WHO) have largely ceded control to the authoritarian regime, who will now essentially be investigating themselves – it will be no great surprise to us when they eventually congratulate themselves for doing a great job. Still, it is now the beginning of December, and the WHO has finally unveiled the names of 10 scientists set to travel to Wuhan “as soon as possible” to trace the origins of the virus. We are, of course, confident that this will happen as soon as possible because the Chinese government gave “assurances” that this will be the case, and who could ever doubt the word of the Chinese Communist Party. We hope that our great-grandchildren will be able to read the report one day.

That wasn’t the only WHO related scandal last month, because the WHO always strives to go above and beyond what is required… in the amount of scandals they cause, of course. The World Health Assembly (WHA), WHO’s yearly gathering of members, was also held last month, this time in a virtual format. Despite being remote this year, that fact didn’t hinder the organization’s dedication and strive for excellence in its pursuit of creating scandals, while simultaneously engaging in censorship and suppressing freedom of speech.  WHO moderators censored comments that contained words related to Taiwan or that implied the coronavirus originated in China. The WHO Facebook page also blocked any Taiwan-related comments that included “Taiwan” or “Taiwan can help.” Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry stated that it was Chinese “obstruction” that had prevented Taiwan from attending the WHA, accusing the global body of prioritizing politics over health.

You would also think that such an important meeting in time of an unstoppable pandemic that has taken over a million lives would be dedicated to issues that would allow the global health community to discuss the important next steps in the fight against the virus. But that would be silly. Of course the WHO had more important things to do, and instead held a four-hour session in which 30 representatives of countries such as Syria, North Korea, and Iran blasted Israel and adopted a resolution condemning this country.

The UN Has Seen Your Message

The WHO is not the only United Nations (UN) agency that has fallen under Chinese influence. Emma Reilly, a human rights lawyer working for the UN in Geneva has accused the body’s Human Rights Council (UNHRC) of actively passing names of Uighur dissidents to the Chinese Communist Party, and that it was her boss that was doing this for years. This scandal comes just a few weeks after 38 UN member countries called on China “to allow immediate, meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang for independent observers,” including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and her office. Should we expect a swift and decisive response from the UN? Given the Chinese Communist Party has control of a key Human Rights Panel which is in charge of sending monitors to discover abuses, we doubt it.  Not to mention that we are dealing with a global bureaucracy with corrupt officials protected by diplomatic immunity. An inefficient organization whose boss unequivocally declares that they are “slow to acknowledge” issues such as racism within the organization. Let’s not kid ourselves that the UN has the power to influence Chinese internal matters.

At the beginning of this year, we wrote about the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) scandals, and how until that agency faces a serious possibility of defunding and closing down, no amount of leadership rotations nor promises of complete transparency can make them into an effective and accountable force. It turns out that UNRWA is nearing the edge of a financial cliff, and is pleading for millions of dollars in funding to keep their operations going to fund their 28,000 bureaucrats. Who in their right mind would agree to finance that bureaucratic nightmare?

Delayed But Never Stopped

Not all news has been bad, however. Some good news in the last month came from the European Union (EU). Despite tax grabbing bureaucrats’ best efforts, the proposals for a digital tax may be delayed to allow for more time to reach a “worldwide agreement” on the issue. However, this is only a small delay in the inevitable march the EU has to tax US companies to  “pay for the COVID-19 pandemic” – or in reality, their own mismanagement of their tax dollars. And the end-users of digital goods – the taxpayers – will be the ones to foot the bill in the end.

To conclude on a positive note – it is a step in the right direction for the EU Parliament members to take action and call on the WHO to let Taiwan participate in the organization’s official meetings. More than 600 MPs expressed their support for Taiwan’s bid to attend the WHA in a joint letter to the WHO and relevant officials.

Partner Spotlight: Alternate Solutions Institute

Alternate Solutions Institute, Pakistan’s first free-market think tank, was set up in April 2003 in Lahore. It is an independent, registered, non-governmental, educational and research entity, established for the “welfare of the people by the people,” based on mutual help and cooperation, free from any political or partisan influence.

The guiding philosophy of the Institute is based on the values of limited government, rule of law, protection of property rights, market economy, individual freedom, and private initiative.

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We’re always looking for regional coordinators from countries around the world to help us distribute information on social media, write blog posts and op-eds, and provide us with on-the-ground information from their regions. If you have any tips about stories, or would like to become a regional coordinator, please send us an email!

Until next month,

IGO Watch Team

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