DO NOT RELY UPON UNITED NATIONS STATEMENTS OF FACT

Compliance officers, kindly refrain from the use of any United Nations statements, white papers, or position papers, for the influence of political actors, and autocratic member states with horrific records in human rights, seem to have resulted in serious inaccuracies, and misstatements of material fact. The UN can no longer be relied upon for objective facts, for compliance purposes.

Here is a typical example. The recent statements by UNESCO, to the effect that Muslims are the only major religion with a prior historical claim upon Jerusalem, clearly illustrates this point. Both Christianity and Judaism predate Muslims in Jerusalem, by several centuries, or even millennia,  yet the latest UNESCO statement recognizes only a Muslim heritage. In truth and in fact, many historians dispute that Mohammed legendary night-flight came from Jerusalem, which is not mentioned by name in the Koran, and there is no record of a mosque in Jerusalem in his lifetime, though there were active churches and synagogues. The UNESCO statement is a failed attempt to rewrite history.

Nevertheless, UNESCO insists that there is no earlier Jewish or Christian history there. For that reason, we as compliance officers cannot rely upon "revisionist" history, and issues selective statements that are not factually accurate. When evaluating Country Risk, or for any other purpose, rely upon known authoritative sources, and ignore the United Nations on the subject. Far too many of its members seek to advance their own political agendas.