Controversy and criticism

There has been controversy and criticism of the UN organization and its activities since nearly its inception. In the United States, an early opponent of the UN was the John Birch Society, an anti-Communist organization that in 1959 began a "get US out of the UN" campaign, charging that the UN's aim was a "One World Government". In later decades, criticism of the UN entered the political mainstream to a greater extent. In 1967, Richard Nixon, while running for President of the United States, criticized the UN as "obsolete and inadequate" for dealing with present crises like the Cold War. Jeanne Kirkpatrick, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to be United States Ambassador to the United Nations, wrote in a 1983 opinion piece in The New York Times that the process of discussions at the Security Council "more closely resembles a mugging" of the United States "than either a political debate or an effort at problem solving." In a February 2003 speech, soon before the United States invasion of Iraq (which he had been unable to get UN approval for), U.S. President George W. Bush said, "free nations will not allow the United Nations to fade into history as an ineffective, irrelevant debating society." In 2005, Bush appointed John R. Bolton to the position of Acting U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.; Bolton had made several statements critical of the UN, including saying, in 1994, "There is no such thing as the United Nations. There is only the international community, which can only be led by the only remaining superpower, which is the United States."

Security Council criticism
There has been criticism of the Security Council, e.g. for being unable to act in a clear and decisive way when confronted with a crisis. The veto power of the five permanent members has been cited as the cause of this problem. Under the "Uniting for Peace" resolution, adopted by the General Assembly in November 1950, the assembly may take action if the Security Council, because of lack of unanimity of its permanent members, fails to act where there appears to be a threat to international peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression. The makeup of the security council dates back to the end of World War II, and this division of powers no longer represents the state of the world. Critics question the effectiveness and relevance of the Security Council because enforcement relies on the member nations and there usually are no consequences for violating a Security Council resolution.
Inaction on genocide and human rights
The UN has been accused of ignoring the plight of people across the world, especially in parts of Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Current examples include the UN's inaction toward the Sudanese government in Darfur, the Chinese government's ethnic cleansing in Tibet along with its repression of the Falun Gong and the forced repatriation of North Korean refugees he North Korean government's systematic and widespread human rights atrocities (including the establishment of forced-labor camps), and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
he United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which existed from 1946 to 2006, received heavy criticism for letting countries with their own long histories of human-rights criticisms, such as Cuba and the Sudan, become members of the commission; see United Nations Commission on Human Rights#Criticism. The commission's successor, the United Nations Human Rights Council, has faced criticism for focusing the majority of its own criticism on Israel, nearly to the exclusion of any other country. This criticism of the Human Rights Council has been echoed by Secretaries-General Kofi Annan nd Ban Ki-moon themselves, along with U.S. President George W. Bush; see also United Nations Human Rights Council#Council's position on Israel.

Oil-for-Food Programme
The Oil-for-Food Programme was established by the UN in 1996 to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian needs of ordinary Iraqi citizens who were affected by international economic sanctions, without allowing the Iraqi government to rebuild its military in the wake of the first Gulf War. Over $65 billion worth of Iraqi oil was sold on the world market. Officially, about $46 billion was used for humanitarian needs. Additional revenue paid for Gulf War reparations through a Compensation Fund, UN administrative and operational costs for the Programme ( 2.2%), and the weapons inspection programme (0.8%). The programme was discontinued in late 2003 amidst allegations of widespread abuse and corruption. Benon Sevan, the former director, was suspended and then resigned from the UN, as an interim progress report of a UN-sponsored investigation concluded that Sevan had accepted bribes from the Iraqi regime, and recommended that his UN immunity be lifted to allow for a criminal investigation. Beyond Sevan, Kojo Annan was alleged to have illegally procured Oil-for-Food contracts on behalf of the Swiss company Cotecna. India's foreign minister, Natwar Singh, was removed from office because of his role in the scandal. And the Cole Inquiry investigated whether the Australian Wheat Board breached any laws with its contracts with Iraq.

Other controversies
Other controversy of UN include:
UN ambulance caught on tape transporting armed Palestinians forces in 1994.
Allegations of sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers during UN peacekeeping missions in Congo, Haiti, Liberia and Sudan.