"My fourth lesson – closely related to the last one – is that governments must be accountable for their actions in the international arena, as well as in the domestic one.
Today the actions of one state can often have a decisive effect on the lives of people in other states. So does it not owe some account to those other states and their citizens, as well as to its own? I believe it does.
As things stand, accountability between states is highly skewed. Poor and weak states are easily held to account, because they need foreign assistance. But large and powerful states, whose actions have the greatest impact on others, can be constrained only by their own people, working through their domestic institutions."
Today the actions of one state can often have a decisive effect on the lives of people in other states. So does it not owe some account to those other states and their citizens, as well as to its own? I believe it does.
As things stand, accountability between states is highly skewed. Poor and weak states are easily held to account, because they need foreign assistance. But large and powerful states, whose actions have the greatest impact on others, can be constrained only by their own people, working through their domestic institutions."
Kofi Annan's farewell speech
The new head of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, has ordered an emergency external review of all UN expenditure after claims that up to $100 million meant for development aid was channelled into the hands of North Korean officials.
The UNDP, headed by Sir Mark Malloch Brown, a Briton, for much of that period, relied on audits conducted by the North Korean government to track the use of funds to help the desperately poor population of a country where millions have died from famine in recent years.
The UNDP has said that from March 1, it will instigate new financial controls in North Korea, choose local staff and pay them in North Korean won rather than dollars.
The UNDP, headed by Sir Mark Malloch Brown, a Briton, for much of that period, relied on audits conducted by the North Korean government to track the use of funds to help the desperately poor population of a country where millions have died from famine in recent years.
The UNDP has said that from March 1, it will instigate new financial controls in North Korea, choose local staff and pay them in North Korean won rather than dollars.
Telegraph - UK
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