Circus UN and Sustainable Development

The decision to allow Zimbabwe to chair the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) is not only laughable, but continues to chip away at the credibility of the UN as an effective world body. It would be somewhat similar to appointing Rwanda to a key role in UNHCR back in the early 1990s, or North Korea a role in the IAEA. In broad detail, the relevant UN website cites the following broad goals for the CSD:

• "Integration of the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development in policy-making at international, regional and national levels;

• Wide-spread adoption of an integrated, cross-sectoral and broadly participatory approach to sustainable development;

• Measurable progress in the implementation of the goals and targets of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation."

These are all important goals, for all nations - it is strange then that the country with perhaps the most unsustainable economy gets to lead this body for a while. And before I forget, I wonder when some other African nations will have the courage to stand up and condemn a regime which has been nothing short of a disaster.