Dear Editor,
Your campus hosted a fine conference on the United Nations’ newly proposed Sustainable Development Goals wonderfully keynoted by Senator Cardin and former Mayor Schmoke.
“Arafat” gave your story (“UN discusses new development goals”, Nov. 13, 2014, online comment) a strange response saying: “There isn’t a single UN agency that has done a lick of good.”
Having been senior advisor to four parts of the UN, I’m also a critic. The UN can do better, building on a base of solid achievement:
- UNICEF, over the last few decades, has led to saving the lives of 60 million children... a larger number than all the people killed in World War II;
- UN Peacekeeping has expanded 10-fold since the end of the Cold War, helping to reduce deaths by warfare by 90 percent;
- The UN’s human rights work has been uneven, but no one denies those rights are now a global expectation; and
- Every day UN agencies help assure reliable international aviation and shipping, international postal services world weather forecasting, climate change tracking, etc.
Hey, “Arafat,” come out and see the world for what it is: achieving a better life, with the UN as an ally.
Robert J. Berg
Member, United Nations Association of the National Capital Area
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