Clipmark

Libya was elected on October 16, 2007 to the UN Security Council, a position it will assume in January. Last month Syria was elected Vice-Chair of the General Conference of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency. Libya and Syria join a long list of dictators, despots and human rights violators in UN leadership positions – positions that entail responsibilities diametrically opposed to their incumbents' qualifications. Here are only a few of today's UN authority figures:

U.N. Security Council: Libya

International Atomic Energy Agency General Committee, Vice-President: Syria

U.N. Disarmament Commission Vice-Chairman: Iran, Rapporteur ; Syria

U.N. Programme of Assistance in the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law Advisory Committee: Iran, Lebanon, Sudan

Commission for Social Development: North Korea

Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice: Libya, Russia

U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) Vice-President: Myanmar