August 19, 2025 | WSJ Letter to the Editor
Donors Alone Can’t Reform the United Nations
U.S. funding for the body provides leverage for reform but no less important will be sustained pressure from the leaders of donor states.
August 19, 2025 | WSJ Letter to the Editor
Donors Alone Can’t Reform the United Nations
U.S. funding for the body provides leverage for reform but no less important will be sustained pressure from the leaders of donor states.
Excerpt
Netta Barak-Corren deftly explains why the large-scale diversion of humanitarian aid has become a standard feature of multibillion-dollar United Nations-led operations (“How Humanitarian Aid Feeds War Machines,” op-ed, Aug. 11). She offers practical advice on how to reform U.N. efforts, expressing confidence that “accountability is still within reach if donors step up and put pressure on humanitarian organizations.”
I also believe that pressure from donors can have a salutary effect, but my research on the institution’s operations in Syria underscores the extent to which influential actors inside the U.N. can block reform.
David Adesnik is the vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.