| UN Spends Foreign Aid Money on Expensive Art |
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| by Tom McGregor | Tue, Nov 18, 2008, 10:24 PM |
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The Human Rights council of the United Nations often accused of coddling some of the world’s most repressive governments, threw itself a lavish party in Geneva Tuesday that featured the unveiling of a $23 million mural purchased in part with foreign aid funds. Fox News reports that, “in a ceremony attended by U.N Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Spanish artist Miguel Barcelo told the press that his 16,000-square-foot ceiling reminded him of ‘an image of the world dripping toward the sky’ - but it reminded critics of money slipping out of relief coffers.” Hillel Neuer, the executive director of U.N. Watch, explained that in Spain it has become a scandal since they took money out of the foreign aid budget, which meant it was cash siphoned away from starving children in Africa. The taxpayers of Spain paid for most of the scrawling sculpture that has been compared to the Sistine Chapel, but approximately 633,000 came from Spain’s budget for overseas development assistance. Ban himself conveyed praise on the piece and thanked Barcelo for using “his unique talents to work in the service of the world.” The artwork can be seen soaring above the Human Rights Council chambers at U.N.’s European headquarters in Geneva that may soon undergo a $1 billion renovation - but only after a $1.9 billion reconstruction of the U.N.’s New York offices is completed. “Meanwhile,” according to Fox News, “international humanitarian groups pleaded with the human rights panel to take time out from their party to address the worsening human rights ‘catastrophe’ in the Congo, where the government is fighting a deadly battle with several rebel groups.” Freedom House and U.N. Watch issued a joint statement making it evident that, “mass displacement, killings and sexual violence - involving hundreds of thousands of victims, if not more - require an urgent response.” In March, the Human Rights Council removed the Congo off its radar as an African country to closely monitor when the government of Congo and a group of neighboring nations supplanted pressure on the council to expel the monitor. To read the entire article from Fox News, link here: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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