President Trump continued his assault on the United Nations in his speech before the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. Unsurprising, given that a few weeks into his term, he had already drafted an executive order reducing U.S. contributions to the UN, which he described as “wasteful and counter-productive.”

It is par for the course these days to mock and deride the United Nations. More than 70 years into its existence, the “One World” aspiration of its original charter seems idealistic, naïve, and mired with red tape. With a staff of 44,000 (not including scores of consultants), an eye-popping yearly budget of around $5 billion, and its occupation of some coveted New York City real estate, the UN is an easy target.

I am no UN apologist. Having worked for four years as one of these scores of UN consultants, I have plenty to criticize. I spent hours creating strategic plans that disappeared into a void of headquarter review and approvals. My hard-earned legal training was wasted more than once on providing rhetorical and logistical support to government agencies involved in national celebrations: speech, handshake, musical entertainment, repeat. The UN is mammoth, expensive, often inefficient, and has even undermined its goals with negligent interventions.

But criticism of the UN’s implementation is often thinly disguised criticism of its mandate, particularly its mandate to promote international cooperation on humanitarian relief and respect for human rights. In his speech, President Trump repeated the word sovereignty 10 times, but mentioned human rights only once—and then only to criticize the composition of the UN Human Rights Council. He referred to humanitarian aid three times, two of which applauded U.S. and not UN interventions. President Trump made his position clear on the UN’s human rights and humanitarian mandate: The basic welfare of the world’s citizens is solely in the hands of their own governments. That is, of course, unless the government impinges on the security or prosperity of another, such as Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela, in which case the liberation of the people becomes relevant.

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