The United Nations is the largest international organization, with 40 agencies and 28 ongoing peace operations.
Unfortunately, the UN been involved in many cases of mismanagement of funds, fraud and bribery, making the UN one of the world’s most corrupt organizations as well. Although the United Nations has helped millions of people, aggressive changes need to be made in oversight of funding.
Some of the more well known examples of corruption are fraud in the UN pension fund, where the CEO created false accounts of employees to collect their pensions, and the Oil and Food program in Iraq, where 90 percent of the country relied on the UN for food supplies. Some of this food was deemed unfit for humans. One of the more recent cases is misplaced money from funding to Africa to aid for Ebola in the amount of $5.7 million.
The most prevalent cases of corruption and fraud come from the lower tiers of the UN. Local UN officials often coerce and take bribes from local businessmen. Officials will often declare procurement amounts to the UN budget office that are inflated, only to collect the money and share it between officials. In Congo and Haiti alone, over $610 million was misplaced and split between local UN employees. In Afghanistan, LOTFA, which was partially funded by the United Nations, had $200 million taken by officials through fraud.
While there is a department already responsible for oversight into cases like these, it has been unsuccessful. Revamping the department with increased funding or additional employees could help prevent further fraud. Another option is having member countries create systems in order to have localized, preventative measures.
Regardless of the method, it is clear that the United Nations is in need of stricter regulations in the area of fraud and corruption.