UN Provides Expansionist Russia With a Platform To Condemn ‘Colonialism’

The United Nations has turned moral inversion into an art form. The UN General Assembly’s Fourth Committee, which handles decolonization, passed a Russian-sponsored resolution on October 15 that seeks to shield expansionist countries from coercive measures in the name of opposing colonialism. U.S. Deputy Representative to the United Nations Tammy Bruce observed that the resolution “tries to redefine colonialism to cover lawful sanctions, export controls, and sovereign trade decisions.” The Russian resolution was by far the committee’s most contentious vote, with 85 in favor, 49 against, and 23 abstentions. The irony of expansionist Russia sponsoring such a resolution was not lost on the Western countries that voted against it and spoke out against this farce. The resolution illustrates the United Nations’ penchant for shielding human rights abusers and, despite its severe financial crisis, wasting money. Resolution Protects Belligerent Countries The Russian resolution, cosponsored exclusively by unfree countries and human rights violators, including China, Cuba, and Iran, presented itself as a means of combating “the continued existence of colonialism in all its forms.” The text listed the “threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State” and “interference in the internal affairs of States” as examples of contemporary forms of colonialism. Never mind Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth year, or its documented history of political interference, assassinations, and similarly malicious acts in numerous countries. The resolution sought to shield human rights abusers from “unilateral economic, financial or trade measures” — i.e., sanctions. This would be in the interest of both Moscow and the resolution’s cosponsors, several of whom are already subject to Western sanctions for their human rights abuses and aggressive behavior. The Fourth Committee’s Anti-Israel Bias The Fourth Committee is arguably the most unwieldy of the UN General Assembly’s six committees. First created as the Trusteeship Committee, it merged with the Special Political Committee in 1993 and was handed a mandate to deal with the small number of non-self-governing territories that had not gained independence, along with a range of disparate issues from peacekeeping to space exploration. Much of the Fourth Committee’s effort is directed at shoring up the United Nations’ disproportionate focus on alleged Israeli malfeasance and supporting the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is solely dedicated to the descendants of Palestinian refugees from Israel’s 1948-1949 War of Independence. UNRWA has exacerbated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by creating a uniquely expansive definition for Palestinian refugees and by employing Hamas terrorists, including several who participated in the mass atrocities in Israel on October 7, 2023. Both the Fourth Committee and the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, a body dedicated to vilifying Israel, are chaired by the Senegalese diplomat Coly Seck. Washington Should Tackle Fourth Committee Waste and Harm In her comments before the Fourth Committee, Amb. Bruce declared that the committee “turns a serious subject into a tool for cynical political posturing, and it adds to the strain of an overstretched UN budget.” Bruce stated that the Special Committee on Decolonization, which reports to the Fourth Committee, “has outlived its original purpose, with more than 80 former colonies having since joined the UN,” going on to call for the termination of its mandate. While the Fourth Committee does not have a standalone budget, its 2026 allocation from the General Assembly for its decolonization work specifically stood at nearly $1 million. Additional costs for interpreters, editors, and secretarial and other support staff can reasonably be estimated at a further $2 million to $3 million annually. The Trump administration’s call for UN reform and efficiency as a prerequisite for receiving U.S. funding has prompted the world body to carry out a 15 percent budget cut. As the United States continues paying its arrears to the United Nations, it should stress that the Fourth Committee’s harmful work is an impediment to receiving U.S. funding. David May is a senior research analyst and research manager at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Ben Cohen is a research fellow at FDD. For more analysis from the authors and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD. Follow Ben and David on X @BenCohenOpinion and @DavidSamuelMay. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.