United Nations Secretaries-General

Secretary-General of the United Nations
Emblem of the United Nations
Incumbent Ban Ki-moon since 1 January 2007
Residence	Sutton Place, Manhattan, New York City, USA
Term length	Five years, renewable indefinitely
Inaugural holder	Gladwyn Jebb 24 October 1945 (Acting) Trygve Lie 1 February 1946
Formation	United Nations Charter, 26 June 1945
Website	UN Secretary-General webpage

The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the Secretariat of the United Nations, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations.

History

As a more functional part of the UN after WWII, the Secretary General position was implemented to the international civil service to be an “international leader”. The position has evolved through practice and has been conditioned by political trends that are mirrored in the world via the UN. The Cold War, decolonization, and conflict in the developing parts of the world were key past issues that allowed for the Secretary General position to become what it is today. Technically the first Secretary General of the United Nations was Gladwyn Jebb, an Englishman. He was appointed at the formation of the United Nations in October 1945. The first elected Secretary General of the United Nations was Trygve Lie, who established the practice of expressing forthright political opinions. After eventually finding himself ostracized by the Soviet Union due to being in favor of UN collective security against North Korea during the Korean War, he realized he could no longer accomplish his responsibilities and resigned in 1952 after eight years as Secretary General. The Secretary General position has often been deemed the “most impossible job”. This was made especially clear in the years that Dag Hammarskjold held the position of Secretary General from 1953 to his death in 1961. As the second Secretary-General, Hammarskjold was faced with confrontation from the Soviet Union based on the accusation that, “whilst there are neutral countries, there are no neutral men.” The Soviet Union was aiming for a reformation of the Secretary General's position to become a troika, or three Secretary Generals, from the East, West, and neutral countries. This was resisted by Hammarskjold and the international civil service. Following Hammarskjold in the position of Secretary General was U Thant who was much less involved, and chose to favor low profile focus on economic development. This decision was primarily fueled by the Congo crisis, as the UN resisted taking part in larger peacekeeping operations. During this time the UN was facing transformation during this time and many key actors were not pleased. U Thant’s reign ended in 1971, at which point Kurt Waldheim took over. He struggled to make a large impact, as there was a lack of support between the UN and the major political powers. Waldheim’s service as Secretary General ended in 1981. After Waldheim, Javier Perez Cuellar took office and the political tensions remained throughout the first half of his time serving. His term came to an end in 1991. Boutros Boutros-Ghali was in office until 1996 makings stride in international law, human rights, and economic and social development. Following Ghali, Kofi Annan assumed the role of Secretary General until 2006, in which he spent much focus on advocating human rights, rule of law, and Millennium Development Goals. The current Secretary General, Bam Ki Moon, became the Secretary-General in 2007. He has since taken priorities on new global leadership mobilization to take on challenges from climate change to human rights. (un.org/sg/formersgs.shtml) (Weiss, Thomas G., and Sam Daws, eds. The Oxford Handbook on The United Nations. New York: Oxford University Press Inc, 2007. Print.)

The current Secretary-General is Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, who took office on 1 January 2007. His first term expired on 31 December 2011. He was re-elected, unopposed, to a second term on 21 June 2011.^[1]

Role

The Secretary-General was envisioned by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a "world moderator," but the vague definition provided by the UN Charter left much room for interpretation by the those whom would later inhabit the position. According to the U.N. website his roles are further defined as "diplomat and advocate, civil servant and CEO."^[2] Nevertheless, this more abstract description has not prevented the office holders from speaking out and playing important roles on global issues, to various degrees. Article 97 of the UN Charter states that the Secretary-General shall be the "chief administrative officer" of the Organization, but does not dictate his specific obligations.

Responsibilities of the Secretary-General are further outlined in Articles 98-100, which states that he shall act as the officer in "in all meetings of the General Assembly, of the Security Council, of the Economic and Social Council and the Trusteeship Council, and shall perform other functions as are entrusted to him by these organs." He is responsible for making an annual report to the General Assembly as well as notifying the Security Council on matters which "in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security." (Article 99) Other than these few guidelines, little else is dictated by the Charter. Interpretation of the Charter has varied between Secretaries-General, with some being much more active than others. [1], The United Nations Charter

The Secretary-General is highly dependent upon the support of the member states of the U.N.. "The Secretary-General would fail if he did not take careful account of the concerns of Member States, but he must also uphold the values and moral authority of the United Nations, and speak and act for peace, even at the risk, from time to time, of challenging or disagreeing with those same Member States."^[3]

"The personal skills of the Secretary-General and his staff are crucial to their function. The central position of the UN headquarters in the international diplomatic network is also an important asset. The Secretary-General has the right to place any dispute on the provisional agenda of the Security Council. However, he works mostly behind the scenes if the members of the council are unwilling to discuss a dispute. Most of his time is spent on good offices missions and mediation, sometimes at the request of deliberative organs of the UN, but also frequently on his own initiative. His function may be frustrated, replaced or supplemented by mediation efforts by the major powers. UN peace-keeping missions are often closely linked to mediation (peace-making). The recent improvement in relations between the permanent members of the Security Council has strengthened the role of the Secretary-General as the world's most reputable intermediary."

Residence

The official residence of the Secretary-General is a five-story townhouse in the Sutton Place, Manhattan, in New York City, United States. The townhouse was built for Anne Morgan in 1921, and donated to the United Nations in 1972.^[4]

Term and selection

Dag Hammarskjöld was a particularly active UN Secretary-General from 1953 until his death in 1961. Hammarskjöld acted as a mediator during the Suez Crisis and the 1960 capture of a US reconnaissance plane by the USSR. He also established the first UN peacekeeping force that had been proposed by Canadian Minister of External Affairs, Lester B. Pearson.

The United Nations Charter provides for the Secretary-General to be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. As a result, the selection is subject to the veto of any of the five permanent Members of the Security Council. While the appointment and approval process of the Secretary-General is outlined in the UN Charter, specific guidelines have emerged regarding the term limits and selection process. These include a limit to two five year terms, regional (continental) rotation of the appointee’s national origin, and the appointee may not be any citizen of the Security Council’s five permanent members.

The United Nations Charter mentions the Secretary-General in chapter 15 of in articles 97-101. Article 97 gives the General Assembly the task of appointing the Secretary General. However, the candidate must be proposed by the Security Council. This implies that any Permanent Member of the Security Council could wield its veto in opposition of the recommendation. Most Secretaries-General are compromise-candidates from middle powers and have little prior fame. Despite the Charter giving the General Assembly provisions to influence the selection process, the chosen Secretaries-General reflect that the selection process remains in the control of the P5.

The Secretary-General is also the chief administrative officer of the United Nations (UN). Article 98 further states that the Secretary-General is further tasked with supervising the operations of the Security Council, General Assembly, and the Economic and Social Council and is to “perform other such functions as are entrusted to him by these organizations” In short, this gives he or she the further responsibility of presiding over the meetings of these organs of the UN. Also contained in Article 98 is the responsibility of the Secretary-General to compile annual reports concerning the UN’s progress, to be presented to the General Assembly (GA).

The Secretary-General has the power to alert the GA and the Security Council of any event he or she sees as a security issue for the international system (according to article 99). The Secretary-General, along with the Secretariat, is given the prerogative to exhibit no allegiance to any state but to only the United Nations organization: decisions must be made without regard to the state of origin.

In the early 1960s, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev led an effort to abolish the Secretary-General position. The numerical superiority of the Western powers combined with the one state, one vote system meant that the Secretary-General would come from one of them, and would potentially be sympathetic towards the West. Khrushchev advanced a proposal to replace the Secretary-General with a three-person leading council (a "troika"): one member from the West, one from the Communist states, and one from the Non-Aligned powers. This idea failed because the neutral powers failed to back the Soviet proposal.^[5][6]

Secretaries-General

Note: Alger Hiss was Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, held in April to June 1945.

#	Portrait	Secretary-General	Dates in office	Country of origin	UN Regional Group	Reason of withdrawal	Ref.
–		Gladwyn Jebb	24 October 1945 – 1 February 1946	United Kingdom	Western European & Others	Served as Acting Secretary-General until Lie's election
		After World War II, he served as Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations in August 1945, being appointed Acting United Nations Secretary-General from October 1945 to February 1946 until the appointment of the first Secretary-General Trygve Lie.[7]
1		Trygve Lie	1 February 1946 – 10 November 1952	Norway	Western European & Others	Resigned	[8]
		Lie, a foreign minister and former labour leader, was recommended by the Soviet Union to fill the post. After the UN involvement in the Korean War, the Soviet Union vetoed Lie's reappointment in 1951. The US circumvented the Soviet Union's veto and recommended reappointment directly to the General Assembly. Lie was reappointed by a vote of forty-six to five, with eight abstentions. The Soviet Union remained hostile to Lie, and he resigned in 1952.[9]
2		Dag Hammarskjöld	10 April 1953 – 18 September 1961	Sweden	Western European & Others	Died in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), while on a peacekeeping mission to the Congo	[10]
		After a series of candidates were vetoed, Hammarskjöld emerged as an option that was acceptable to the Security Council. Hammarskjöld was re-elected unanimously to a second term in 1957. The Soviet Union was angered by Hammarskjöld's leadership of the UN during the Congo Crisis, and suggested that the position of Secretary-General be replaced by a troika, or three-man executive. Facing great opposition from the Western nations, the Soviet Union gave up on its suggestion. Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1961.[9] US President John F. Kennedy called Hammarskjöld "the greatest statesman of our century."[11]
3		U Thant	30 November 1961 – 31 December 1971	Burma	Asian	Declined to be considered for a third term.	[12]
		In the process of replacing Hammarskjöld, the developing world insisted on a non-European and non-American. U Thant was nominated. However, due to opposition from the French (Thant had chaired a committee on Algerian independence) and the Arabs (Burma was supporting Israel), Thant was only appointed for the remainder of Hammarskjöld's term. Thant was the first Asian Secretary-General. The following year, Thant was unanimously re-elected to a full five-year term. He was similarly re-elected in 1966. Thant did not seek a third term.[9]
4		Kurt Waldheim	1 January 1972 – 31 December 1981	Austria	Western European & Others	China vetoed his third term.	[13]
		Waldheim launched a discreet but effective campaign to become the Secretary-General. Despite initial vetoes from China and the United Kingdom, in the third round Waldheim was selected to become the new Secretary-General. In 1976, China initially blocked Waldheim's re-election, but it relented on the second ballot. In 1981, Waldheim's re-election for a third term was blocked by China, which vetoed his selection through 15 rounds. In the mid 1980s, it was revealed that a post-World War II UN War Crimes Commission had labeled Waldheim as a suspected war criminal – based on his involvement with the Nazi German army. The files had been stored in the UN archive.[9]
5		Javier Pérez de Cuéllar	1 January 1982 – 31 December 1991	Peru	Latin American & Caribbean	Refused to be considered for a third term.	[14]
		Pérez de Cuéllar was selected after a five-week deadlock between the re-election of Waldheim and China's candidate, Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania. Pérez de Cuéllar, a Peruvian diplomat, was a compromise candidate, and the first Secretary-General from the Americas. He was re-elected unanimously in 1986.[9]
6		Boutros Boutros-Ghali	1 January 1992 – 31 December 1996	Egypt	African	The United States vetoed his second term.	[15]
		The 102 member Non-Aligned Movement insisted that the next Secretary-General come from Africa. With a majority in the General Assembly and the support of China, the Non-Aligned Movement had the votes necessary to block any unfavourable candidate. The Security Council conducted five anonymous straw polls – a first for the council. Boutros-Ghali emerged with 11 votes on the fifth round. In 1996 the US vetoed the re-appointment of Boutros-Ghali, claiming he had failed in implementing necessary reforms to the UN.[9]
7		Kofi Annan	1 January 1997 – 31 December 2006	Ghana	African	Retired after two full terms	[16]
		On 13 December 1996, the United Nations Security Council recommended Annan.[17][18] Confirmed four days later by the vote of the General Assembly,[19] he started his first term as Secretary-General on 1 January 1997.
8		Ban Ki-moon	1 January 2007– present	South Korea	Asia-Pacific	Incumbent	[20]
		Ban became the second Asian to be selected as the Secretary-General. He was unanimously elected to a second term by the General Assembly on 21 June 2011. His second term began on 1 January 2012.[21] Prior to his selection, he was the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea from January 2004 to November 2006.

A map showing what nations have had a national serving as Secretary-General of the United Nations

See also

• Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations
• Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
• List of Secretaries-General of the United Nations by longevity
• United Nations Secretariat
• Mundialization
• World government

References

External links

• UN Secretary-General webpage
• How is the Secretary-General appointed?
• Global Policy Forum – UN Secretary-General
• Report on the process of appointing a new Secretary-General
• Who Will be the Next Secretary-General? (website on the 2006 campaigns)
• UNSGselection.org – a campaign for a more democratic selection process

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