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U.N. Affairs

by Eric Waha

83 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #05-1259; ISBN 1-4120-6348-5; US$14.95, C$18.69, EUR12.15, £8.42

From the oil-for-food scandal to the sexual misconducts, Eric Waha reviews the cloud of events that divided Annan's insiders and damaged the U.N.'s credibility.

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About the Book      About the Author      Excerpts      Catalogue Information

About the Book

The United Nations has seen more scrutiny and faced more pressure for reform under Secretary-General Kofi Annan than under any of his predecessors. Its agenda for transformation, according to Mark Malloch Brown, his Chief of Staff, is planned to take it from a conference-organizing, report-writing Organization, to one equipped to undertake large, complex, global missions- from peacekeeping and peacebuilding in post-conflict societies to humanitarian relief, recovery and rehabilitation following disasters.

Former U.N. employee Eric C. Waha underlines the constraints that make it a daunting task, considering staff-management relations deadlocked in distrust in the senior management, entrenched employment rights blocking staff turnover, weak staff oversight and accountability, unethical conduct, lack of transparency, including financial disclosures by senior officials, recruitment and promotions disregarding merit; in the context of a U.N. Secretary-General mired in a web of Governmental committees and outdated rules impending his freedom to manage.

The book finally exposes the troubling revelations on the Iraq oil-for food program and related findings of the Paul Volcker panel, as well as reports of sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping operations, and concludes that they did not show the U.N. recently in a favorable light, and more than ever, the legitimacy of its leadership in conducting even reformed U.N. business, without further damaging the credibility of the world body, appeared increasingly questionable.

Eric C. Waha draws on the brilliant contributions and arguments of U.N. correspondents and international relations specialists, as well as the insights of policy makers and other individuals in the United States that have led the pressure to effectively reform the United Nations.

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About the Author

Chairman of Eric Waha & Associates, Eric C. Waha was born on October 1st, 1968 in Yaounde, Cameroon. He was Project Officer with UNTAET, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (2000-2001); Intern with the Policy Planning Unit of the Office of the U.N. Under Secretary General for Political Affairs, in New York (1998); Administrative Assistant (Administration and Budget) with the WFP (U.N. World Food Program) in Yaounde, Cameroon (1997); Intern, then Consultant with UNDP, the United Nations Development Programme, in Yaound, Cameroon (1994-1996).

He obtained a post graduate diploma in Specialized Studies, in Diplomacy and Administration of International Organizations, from the University of Paris-South, France, in October 1993; a degree in Higher Studies from the Institute for Higher Political and Social Studies of Paris, France, in 1992; and a degree from the Institute for Higher International Studies in Paris, France, in 1991.

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Excerpts

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Catalogue Information

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