"Every so often the United Nations decides to dignify a tyrant, or a tyranny, in ways so in-your-face perverse that it draws public attention, provokes highly embarrasing protest -- and the UN scuttles to back away. So it went with the recent decision by the World Health Organization to appoint as one of its goodwill ambassadors the longtime tyrant of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe.
On Oct. 18, the director-general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, of Ethiopia, announced he was 'honored' to name Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador. For good measure, Tedros praised Zimbabwe as 'a country that places universal health coverage and health promotion at the center of its policies to provide health care to all.'...
For the UN, the embarrassment will likely fade. But the over-arching problem here -- of which Mugabe's fleeting four days as a goodwill ambassador is merely a symptom -- is a United Nations that inveterately dignifies and honors tyrants and tyrannies, though usually in less prominent fashion.
For a sampling of just how deep this problem runs, take the case of Iran -- ruled since 1989 by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei...
There's a solid argument to be made that under the UN's 1945 Charter, which says that membership is open to peace-loving states that respect human rights, today's Iran does not belong in the UN at all.
But at the UN, Iran's regime not only enjoys a seat as one of the 193 member states. It also enjoys the privileges of holding seats on a remarkable array of the governing boards of major UN agencies..."