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| Chief Political Advisor to FM John Baird |
Canada has made the decision that it will “boycott” the UN Conference on Disarmament while North Korea is the chair.
Does it make sense that North Korea is the chair? No. Of course it doesn’t. It’s a state that has actively engaged in illegal trade and development of weapon, constantly threatens its neighbours and is a threat to international security.
So Canada has announced that it will boycott the meetings (until the middle of August due to the UN CD’s bizarre rules).
On the surface, this is a noble decision. We believe in the UN as a functional agency that can bring about real change – we will not tolerate that which makes a mockery of our vision of it. After all, who doesn’t cringe when they see Syria or Libya take control of various human rights bodies. It has also garnered a lot of international attention.
But is this leadership?
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