Camouflage of Money: How Jeffrey Sachs Hid UAE Human Rights Abuse
The United Arab Emirates has a hard time keeping controversies from barging into its territory, and its ties with UN power-broker Jeffrey Sachs is one of 2021’s bidding topics of interest. The emirate is not only home to a tourist destination that is flocked by people from around the world, all throughout the year, but also home to some of the bizarre cases of human rights violations. Yet for some reason, a renowned Columbia University economist chose to leave behind all principals to market the Gulf nation’s whitewashed image.
The case of Jeffrey Sachs broke out in the end of 2021, bring out another classic case from UAE’s kitty of buying influence around the globe with one of its greatest weapons: Money.
In addition to capitalizing on oil, tourism and events of the magnitude of Expo 2020, the United Arab Emirates has also resorted to exploring the lobbying industry, but by the wrong means. It is appalling to imaging the Ministry of Tolerance and Ministry of Happiness standing tall in the same country known for rotting its activists and citizens in prison cells for merely sharing a critical Facebook post or kissing someone of the same sex.
However, it was possible only with the branding done by someone of the calibre of Jeffrey Sachs, a University of Columbia economist, serving as the power broker at the United Nations. In addition to his grandeur, the sum of a minimum of $3 million payment from the United Arab Emirates to his non-profit helped speed up the process.
Sachs’ Mission Happiness
Sachs became the man of the hour for the UAE, struggling with allegations of human rights abuse, corruption, suppression of activists and their freedom to express via the means of detention, disappearance and false criminal charges.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network or SDSN, led by Sachs received nearly $3 million from the UAE, which was used for funding the ‘research’ for World Happiness Report that measures the annual ranking of the listed countries’ quality of life. This was followed by a collection of cheery policy recommendations, accompanied by rankings on the Global Happiness Policy Report. But SDSN wasn’t the only institution to received funds from the UAE, the Gulf nation separately made a $200,000 donation to the Columbia University dedicated for the happiness research, as per Sachs himself, who provided The Intercept with the donation figures of both the institutions. Even the Earth Institute, a research institute at the Columbia, which was previously headed by Sachs, confirmed receiving funds from the UAE. Although a spokesperson for the university withdrew from mentioning the amount of donation made, but as per the Earth Institute website the Emirates Competitiveness Council donated $99,985 to the Sachs’-led institute.
Sachs has boasted about the repressive government on SDSN’s happiness index ranging from Google to “Morning Joe,” and even within the United Nations, where he advised three succeeding secretary-generals of having linked the work of happiness with official sustainability targets. As a result, the UAE — a country where political parties are banned — surprisingly finishes ahead of even European nations in the index of happiness, as per the results displayed in the governmental website and local press coverage.
Matthew Hedges, a victim of the authoritarian regime called Sachs’ work for the UAE “whitewashing” and cited, “The second you start taking money from authoritarian states to illustrate happiness indexes, dystopian doesn’t even begin to describe it.” Hedges, a British researcher who was falsely detained under charges of espionage against the Gulf nation was subjected to long hours’ isolation and interrogation, without the provision of a lawyer.
Whereas, when questioned about his stance in the matter and allegations posed against him, Sachs cited ‘taking issue with such allegations’. He added that the financial support he received from the United Arab Emirates was indeed a “contribution to the UN effort to promote the worldwide use of happiness and well-being indicators and goals in national development policy design.” Sachs also said that anybody having problem with him SDSN receiving funds is unethical, “you are free to write that, though I disagree.”
