Bald-Faced Lies About The U.N.
By Cliff Kincaid
October 9, 2007
Page 2 of 3
But there's still more. "A number of new duties falls upon the Secretary-General of the United Nations," it says. "These include the depositing of charts and coordinates showing the maritime limits of coastal States and servicing of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. The Secretary-General is also called upon to convene meetings of States Parties to elect the members of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and to adopt its budget."
The role of the U.N. Secretary-General is not a mere formality. As I noted in a previous column, Senator David Vitter forced the admission from treaty proponent Dr. Bernard Oxman that the U.N. boss can pick three of five arbitrators to resolve certain disputes if an enemy of the U.S. drags us before a treaty panel. The official list of arbitrators nominated under article 2 of annex V and article 2 of annex VII to the Convention is maintained on the website of the United Nations Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs.
The treaty's preamble makes several references to the U.N., including the fact that the treaty is based ultimately on a 1970 U.N. General Assembly resolution declaring ocean resources beyond national jurisdiction "the common heritage of mankind." This is how the global socialist entity created by the treaty and known as the International Seabed Authority (ISA) acquires rights to billions of dollars worth of oil, gas, and minerals in "international waters." In order to exploit those natural resources, U.S. companies will have to pay a "fee," a form of global tax, to the ISA. This will make the ISA the first U.N. entity to have an independent source of revenue.
Other U.N. references included the preamble's statement that the treaty will be carried out in accordance with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.
Article 301 of UNCLOS, "Peaceful uses of the seas," declares that "In exercising their rights and performing their duties under this Convention, States Parties shall refrain from any threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the principles of international law embodied in the Charter of the United Nations."
In addition, the International Seabed Authority and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea have written and formal working agreements with the U.N. Their employees are members and beneficiaries of the $36-billion United Nations Pension Fund.
Not a U.N. treaty, Mr. Negroponte? How could he deliver that testimony with a straight face? Answer: he knew the media would protect him or not even bother to check the facts.
Why did he lie? The answer has to be that the name "United Nations" is in disrepute. It has come to symbolize incompetence and corruption. So State Department officials have to lie about the U.N. role in this treaty in order to have any hope of it passing.
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