In Rwanda, a UN-backed tourism program helps women and young people earn a living, supports conservation and teaches schoolchildren to protect biodiversity. In Gaza, UNRWA faces evidence that members of its workforce were affiliated with Hamas and, in some cases, allegedly participated in the October 7 massacre.

These are two radically different faces of the United Nations. One helps a society rebuild and delivers measurable results. The other has repeatedly escaped fundamental reform despite grave failures of oversight.

Rwanda offers a useful standard by which to judge them both.

In one hundred days in 1994, more than a million people were murdered in Rwanda, most of them Tutsi. Thirty-two years later, the country is known not only for genocide, but also for order, safety, conservation and one of the world’s most exclusive nature-tourism models.

A permit to spend one hour with Rwanda’s mountain gorillas costs $1,500. Each gorilla family may be visited for only one hour a day by no more than eight people. Rwanda chose value over volume, protecting a rare animal while ensuring that tourism benefits communities beside the national parks.

Ten percent of park revenue funds local schools, clinics, roads and water systems. The principle is simple: the gorilla must be worth more to its neighbors alive than dead.

That reflects something larger about Rwanda. A country almost destroyed by ethnic hatred has built its recovery around responsibility, discipline and visible results.........

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