Australia PM Tony Abbott has a pen and a phone, repurposes handout to UN jet setters from Australian taxpayers to better environmental use "ahead of Peru climate talks." New report says UN bureaucracy has spiraled out of control

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"The U.N. has become a sprawling system with 15 autonomous agencies, 11 semi-autonomous funds and programs, and numerous other bodies. There is no central entity to oversee them all. The secretary-general, currently Ban Ki-moon, can try to coordinate their actions but he has no authority over many of them."

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12/2/14, "Result! Coalition slashes funds to UN climate scroungers," Australian Climate Madness

"It’s a drop in the ocean, to be sure, but at least it is in the right direction. The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp.), naturally, is inconsolable:

"The Federal Government has slashed funding to a key United Nations environment agency by more than 80 per cent, stunning environmental groups ahead of a global climate change summit in Peru. 

The ABC has learned the Government cut $4 million from the UN Environment Program (UNEP), which provides advice on environmental policies and climate change negotiations. 

“Whether it’s air pollution, whether it’s ozone depleting substances, what’s happening in the world’s oceans, the conservation of biodiversity – for a relatively small amount, Australia benefits from leveraging well over $500 million in contributions that other countries make,” UNEP’s executive director Achim Steiner said. 

Australia was due to contribute around $1.2 million this year, but has only offered $200,000. 

Over the next four years it will scale back its funding by $4 million. (source)"

Only a few billion to go, then…" via Climate Depot

image from Australian Climate Madness, "Snouts out of the trough"
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12/2/14, "Federal Government cuts funding to UN environment agency by over 80pc ahead of Peru climate talks," Australian Broadcasting Corp., abc.net.au, Jake Sturmer

"Environment Minister Greg Hunt said the Government had to "make choices in a difficult budget environment".

"I would imagine that most Australians would see putting $12 million into coral reef protection within our region and combating illegal logging of the great rainforests of the Asia-Pacific as a pretty good investment compared with $4 million for bureaucratic support within the UN system," Mr Hunt said."

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UN has spiraled out of control, 15 autonomous agencies have no central authority, top seats on rights councils go to dictatorships, 51 million refugees-AP

12/1/14, "5 problems facing UN as it nears 70th anniversary," AP, Edith M. Lederer

"The world has changed dramatically since the United Nations was established after World War II but the organization has not adapted to reflect the 21st century.... .

At its inception, the U.N. had 51 member states. It now has 193, many of them clamoring for more clout. All countries are represented in the General Assembly, but that body can only pass non-binding resolutions.....

The U.N. has become a sprawling system with 15 autonomous agencies, 11 semi-autonomous funds and programs, and numerous other bodies. There is no central entity to oversee them all. The secretary-general, currently Ban Ki-moon, can try to coordinate their actions but he has no authority over many of them.

The cumbersome structure was recently blamed for the World Health Organization's delay in recognizing the Ebola epidemic. The WHO's country directors in Africa report to the Africa regional director, not WHO headquarters in Geneva. And the WHO's director in Geneva does not report to the secretary-general in New York..

The U.N. is almost constantly asking its member states to contribute troops for its far-flung peacekeeping mission, currently numbering 16. The number of peacekeepers has risen to a record 130,000 - compared to 11,000 at the end of the Cold War - but the system is under severe strain. More than 100 peacekeepers have died this year and dozens have been taken captive.

The world's refugee population has soared amid a growing list of humanitarian crises. The U.N. refugee agency is trying to help over 51 million people forced from their homes and displaced inside or outside their country, the highest figure since the U.N. began collecting that data in the early 1950s. The U.N. humanitarian office is tackling a record of four top-level emergencies - in Africa and the Mideast - as well as Ebola....  

All 193 member states contribute to the U.N.'s regular budget and a separate peacekeeping budget, but some countries are chronically behind on their payments. In early November, members owed about $3.5 billion for regular operations and peacekeeping.
There is widespread behind-the-scenes jockeying for top jobs in the U.N. Secretariat and U.N. agencies, not to mention seats on key bodies like the Human Rights Council and the Security Council. Every country belongs to a regional group that lobbies to ensure it is well represented. There is often criticism that those who get the seats are not the best qualified, such as dictatorships elected to the rights council."
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UN personnel are immune from prosecution for any crime, free to put US taxpayer dollars in Swiss bank accounts or spend them "renovating a guesthouse:"

4/16/09, “Report: U.N. spent U.S. funds on shoddy projects,” USA Today, Ken Dilanian

Do UN “agencies have immunity if they siphon (their U.S. grants) all off into Swiss banks? Is that accurate? They will be totally immune, no matter what they do with the money?” “My understanding is, yes,” Gambatesa replied.” (4th parag. from end)

…"The Afghanistan country director for the U.N. Office for Project Services (UNOPS), which served as the contractor on the project for the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) spent about $200,000 in U.S. money to 

renovate his guesthouse. Witness names were withheld by USAID.” (parag. 7)

“Federal prosecutors in New York City were forced to drop criminal and civil cases because the U.N. officials have immunity.” (parag. 4)


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Comment: UN personnel are unelected, unaccountable, can commit a crime anywhere on earth without fear of prosecution (parag. 4). US taxpayer money flows to it on a no strings basis, can be used for any purpose, even put in a Swiss bank account without consequence (4th parag. from end). US taxpayer money has been used to renovate a UN employee's guest house (parag. 7) without consequence.

The UN is legal organized crime enabled by US taxpayers.

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1/11/12, "UN and EU: Rich and Unaccountable — “A Vast Enterprise of Looting”," SPPI, Dennis Ambler


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