A US ambassador is upset with UN peers for excessive drinking.
One of the United States ambassadors to the United Nations has taken a stand against his colleagues drinking excessively on the job.
Joseph Torsella, the US ambassador for management and reform said that during budget negotiation meetings, some United Nations representatives have not only been drinking, but getting so intoxicated that they can’t do their jobs properly.
One diplomat reportedly got alcohol poisoning, and others vomited from drinking too much.
Torsella said: “If ... negotiators do not arrive on time for meetings scheduled on nights and weekends, or simply refuse to meet on a specific item in order to run down the clock, we must conclude that they do not share a commitment to negotiating in good faith, and we will respond accordingly.”
US representative’s complaints about drinking during negotiations have followed a change in the way that the UN gets the budget approved.
At the December UN budget meeting, rather than approving the budget by consensus as they usually do, a single budget measure was put up for a majority vote. The Group of 77, currently consisting of 132 developing countries, readily ensured a majority victory.
What do you think? Should the diplomats be allowed to drink alcohol on the job?