In My Inbox this Morning . . .

. . . was an e-mail from Claudia Rosett herself, forwarding this column. Ms. Rosett did more than any other person to expose oil-for-food, yet she suggests that with all of the scandalous behavior from the U.N. of late, the one with the most damning historical staying power could be a scandal of omission–its failure to do anything for the people of North Korea.

Such would-be refugees have been dying faceless, nameless and scarcely even remarked upon by the world community. But these were human beings. They had faces and names. From what we know of conditions in North Korean detention centers, it’s a good bet they were freezing, famished and quite possibly tortured in the hours before they were then murdered in public due to the combined and systematic state policies of China and North Korea.

Where is the U.N. in all this? Under the U.N. Refugee Convention–which Beijing has signed and the UNHCR, with its $1.1 billion budget, is supposed to administer–these North Koreans refugees had rights. The convention promised them not a return to their deaths, but at least safe transit through China to a place of asylum.

One hopes that the departure of Ruud Lubbers, a man apparently preoccupied with lower diversions, could effect some positive change.