Secretary-General of the United Nations

Secretary-General of the United Nations

Secretary-General of the United Nations

Emblem of the United Nations

Incumbent Ban Ki-moon since1 January 2007 Residence Term length Sutton Place, Manhattan, New York, US Five years, renewable indefinitely

Inaugural holder Gladwyn Jebb 24 October 1945 (Acting) Trygve Lie 1 February 1946 Formation United Nations Charter, 26 June 1945 UN Secretary-General webpage [1]

Website

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. The current Secretary-General is Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, who took office on 1 January 2007. His first term will expire on 31 December 2011. He was re-elected, unopposed, to a second term on 21 June 2011.[2]

Secretary-General of the United Nations

Role
The Secretary-General was envisioned by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a "world moderator," but the office was defined in the UN Charter as the organization's "chief administrative officer" (Article 97). Nevertheless, this more restricted description has not prevented the office holders from speaking out and playing important roles on global issues, to various degrees. The official residence of the Secretary-General is a five-story townhouse in the Sutton Place, Manhattan, in New York City, USA. The townhouse was built for Anne Morgan in 1921, and donated to the United Nations in 1972.[3]

Term and selection

Secretaries-General serve for five-year terms that can be renewed indefinitely, although none so far has held office for more than two terms.[4] 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. The UN Charter's terse language has since been supplemented by other procedural rules and also accepted practices. In practice, the Secretary-General cannot be a national of any of the Permanent Members of the Security Council. An accepted practice of regional (continental) rotation has also been adopted in the selection of successive candidates. The ability of candidates to converse in both English and French is also considered an unofficial qualification for the office.

Most Secretaries-General are compromise-candidates from middle powers and with little prior fame. High-profile candidates are often touted for the job, but are almost always rejected as unpalatable to some. For instance, figures like Charles de Gaulle, Dwight Eisenhower, and Sir Anthony Eden were considered for the first Secretary-General position, but were rejected in favour of the uncontroversial Norwegian Trygve Lie. Dag Hammarskjld remains the only Secretary-General to have died in office. 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 typically 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]

Dag Hammarskjld was a particularly active UN Secretary-General from 1953 until his death in 1961. Hammarskjld 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.

Secretary-General of the United Nations

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 Gladwyn Jebb Dates in office 24 October 1945 1 February 1946 Country of origin United Kingdom Reason of withdrawal Served as Acting Secretary-General until Lie's election Ref.

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 [7] Secretary-General Trygve Lie. 1 Trygve Lie 1 February 1946 10 November 1952 Norway 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 [9] abstentions. The Soviet Union remained hostile to Lie, and he resigned in 1952. 2 Dag Hammarskjld 10 April 1953 18 September 1961 Sweden 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, Hammarskjld emerged as an option that was acceptable to the Security Council. Hammarskjld was re-elected unanimously to a second term in 1957. The Soviet Union was angered by Hammarskjld'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. [9] Hammarskjld was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1961. US President John F. Kennedy called [11] Hammarskjld "the greatest statesman of our century." 3 U Thant 30 November 1961 31 December 1971 Burma Declined to be considered for a third term. [12]

In the process of replacing Hammarskjld, 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 Hammarskjld'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 [9] re-elected in 1966. Thant did not seek a third term. 4 Kurt Waldheim 1 January 1972 31 December 1981 Austria 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 labelled Waldheim as a suspected war criminal based on his involvement with the Nazi German army. [9] The files had been stored in the UN archive. 5 Javier Prez de Cullar 1 January 1982 31 December 1991 Peru Refused to be considered for [14] a third term.

Prez de Cullar was selected after a five-week deadlock between the re-election of Waldheim and China's candidate, Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania. Prez de Cullar, a Peruvian diplomat, was a compromise candidate, and the first Secretary General [9] from Latin America. He was re-elected unanimously in 1986.

Secretary-General of the United Nations

4
1 January 1992 31 December 1996 The United States vetoed his [15] second term.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Egypt

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 [9] necessary reforms to the UN. 7 Kofi Annan 1 January 1997 31 December 2006 Ghana Retired after two full terms [16]

[17] [18] On 13 December 1996, the United Nations Security Council recommended Annan. Confirmed four days later by the vote [19] of the General Assembly, he started his first term as Secretary-General on 1 January 1997. 8 Ban Ki-moon 1 January 2007 present South Korea Incumbent [20]

Ban became the second Asian to be selected as the Secretary-General. He was unanimously elected to a second term by the [21] General Assembly on June 21, 2011. His second term begins January 1, 2012. Prior to his selection, he was the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea from January 2004 to November 2006.

UN Regional Group Western European and Others Eastern European Group Latin American and Caribbean Group Asian Group African Group

Secretaries-General Terms 4 0 1 2 2 7 0 2 4 3

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

Secretary-General of the United Nations

References
[1] http:/ / www. un. org/ sg [2] http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ news/ world-us-canada-13868655 Ban Ki-moon wins second-term as UN Secretary General [3] Teltsch, Kathleen. "Town House Offered to U. N." (http:/ / select. nytimes. com/ gst/ abstract. html?res=F10D1FF8345A137B93C7A8178CD85F468785F9), The New York Times, 15 July 1972. Accessed 27 December 2007. [4] Secretary-General Appointment Process (http:/ / www. un. org/ sg/ appointment. shtml) [5] Fordham University (23 September 1960). "[[Nikita Khrushchev (http:/ / www. fordham. edu/ halsall/ mod/ 1960khrushchev-un1. html)], Address to the UN General Assembly"]. Press release. . Retrieved 2 May 2011. [6] "[[BBC News|BBC On This Day (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ onthisday/ hi/ dates/ stories/ september/ 29/ newsid_3087000/ 3087171. stm)] 1960: Khrushchev anger erupts at UN"] (in English). BBC Online (United Kingdom: BBC News). 23 September 1960. . Retrieved 2 May 2011. [7] Stout, David (26 October 1996). "Lord Gladwyn Is Dead at 96; Briton Helped Found the U.N." (http:/ / query. nytimes. com/ gst/ fullpage. html?res=9403E2D61E30F935A15753C1A960958260). NY Times. . Retrieved 31 October 2008. [8] The United Nations: Trygve Haldvan Lie (Norway) (http:/ / www. un. org/ Overview/ SG/ sg1bio. html). Accessed 13 December 2006. [9] "An Historical Overview on the Selection of United Nations Secretaries-General" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20071025014319/ http:/ / www. unausa. org/ atf/ cf/ {49C555AC-20C8-4B43-8483-A2D4C1808E4E}/ SG+ Reform+ Fact+ Sheet-fina-logol. pdf). UNA-USA. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. unausa. org/ atf/ cf/ {49C555AC-20C8-4B43-8483-A2D4C1808E4E}/ SG Reform Fact Sheet-fina-logol. pdf) on 25 October 2007. . Retrieved 30 September 2007. [10] The United Nations: Dag Hammarskjld (Sweden) (http:/ / www. un. org/ Overview/ SG/ sg2bio. html). Accessed 13 December 2006. [11] Linnr, S. (2007). Dag Hammarskjld and the Congo crisis, 196061 (http:/ / www. dhf. uu. se/ pdffiler/ Dh_lecture_2007. pdf). Page 28. Uppsala University. (22 July 2008). [12] The United Nations: U Thant (Myanmar) (http:/ / www. un. org/ Overview/ SG/ sg3bio. html). Accessed 13 December 2006. [13] The United Nations: Kurt Waldheim (Austria) (http:/ / www. un. org/ Overview/ SG/ sg4bio. html). Accessed 13 December 2006. [14] The United Nations: Javier Prez de Cullar (Peru) (http:/ / www. un. org/ Overview/ SG/ sg5bio. html). Accessed 13 December 2006. [15] The United Nations: Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt) (http:/ / www. un. org/ Overview/ SG/ sg6bio. html). Accessed 13 December 2006. [16] The United Nations: The Biography of Kofi A. Annan (http:/ / www. un. org/ News/ ossg/ sg/ pages/ sg_biography. html). Accessed 13 December 2006. [17] United Nations (1996-12-13). "BIO/3051 - "Kofi Annan of Ghana recommended by Security Council for appointment as Secretary-General of United Nations"" (http:/ / www. un. org/ News/ Press/ docs/ 1996/ 19961213. bio3051. html). Press release. . Retrieved 2006-12-12. [18] Traub, James (2006). The Best Intentions (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=chP1YnYFTKYC). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp.6667. ISBN978-0-374-18220-5. . [19] United Nations (1996-12-17). "GA/9208 -"General Assembly appoints Kofi Annan of Ghana as seventh Secretary-General"" (http:/ / www. un. org/ News/ Press/ docs/ 1996/ 19961217. ga9208. html). Press release. . Retrieved 2006-12-12. [20] Ban Ki-moon is sworn in as next Secretary-General of the United Nations (http:/ / www. un. org/ apps/ news/ infocusRel. asp?infocusID=122& Body=Ban+ Ki-moon) [21] [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/ban-ki-moon-gets-second-term-as-un-chief/article2070407/ "Ban Ki-moon gets second term as UN chief", Globe and Mail, June22, 2011

External links
UN Secretary-General webpage (http://www.un.org/sg) How is the Secretary-General appointed? (http://www.un.org/sg/appointment.shtml) Global Policy Forum UN Secretary-General (http://www.globalpolicy.org/secgen/index.htm) Report on the process of appointing a new Secretary-General (http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/site/ lookup.asp?c=glKWLeMTIsG&b=1807393) Who Will be the Next Secretary-General? (http://unsg.org/) (website on the 2006 campaigns) UNSGselection.org (http://www.unsgselection.org) a campaign for a more democratic selection process

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Image:Emblem of the United Nations.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Emblem_of_the_United_Nations.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Spiff File:Ban Ki-moon by UNDP.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ban_Ki-moon_by_UNDP.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Contributors: UNDP Image:Dag Hammarskjold.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dag_Hammarskjold.jpg License: Attribution Contributors: UN/DPI Image:Sr. Gladwyn Jebb.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sr._Gladwyn_Jebb.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Jupiter-Perfect, File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Original flag by James I of England/James VI of ScotlandSVG recreation by User:Zscout370 Image:Trygve Lie.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Trygve_Lie.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Palmer, Alfred T / United States. Office of War Information File:Flag of Norway.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Norway.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Dbenbenn Image:Dag Hammarskjld cropped.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dag_Hammarskjld_cropped.JPG License: Attribution Contributors: UN/DPI File:Flag of Sweden.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Sweden.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Jon Harald Sby Image:U-Thant-10617.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:U-Thant-10617.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: 23prootie, 2T, Anathema, EvilSuggestions, Hankyeol, Wolfgangus Mozart, , 1 anonymous edits File:Flag of Myanmar (1974-2010).svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Myanmar_(1974-2010).svg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Denelson83, User:Nightstallion, User:Zscout370 Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-M0921-014, Beglaubigungsschreiben DDR-Vertreter in UNO new.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-M0921-014,_Beglaubigungsschreiben_DDR-Vertreter_in_UNO_new.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Germany Contributors: Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-M0921-014,_Beglaubigungsschreiben_DDR-Vertreter_in_UNO.jpg: Spremberg, Joachim derivative work: AS990 (talk) File:Flag of Austria.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Austria.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:SKopp Image:Javier Prez de Cullar.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Javier_Prez_de_Cullar.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Contributors: Manuel Gonzlez Olaechea, Martin H. File:Flag of Peru.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Peru.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Dbenbenn File:Boutros Boutros-Ghali in Davos.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Boutros_Boutros-Ghali_in_Davos.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Boutros-Ghali,_Klaus_Schwab,_Flavio_Cotti_-_World_Economic_Forum_Annual_Meeting_1995.jpg: World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland derivative work: BomBom (talk) File:Flag of Egypt.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Egypt.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Open Clip Art Image:Kofi Annan.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Kofi_Annan.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Brazil Contributors: Ricardo Stuckert/ABr File:Flag of Ghana.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Ghana.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Benchill, Fry1989, Henswick, Homo lupus, Indolences, Jarekt, Klemen Kocjancic, Neq00, SKopp, ThomasPusch, Threecharlie, Torstein, Zscout370, 4 anonymous edits Image:Ban Ki-moon by UNDP.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ban_Ki-moon_by_UNDP.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Contributors: UNDP File:Flag of South Korea.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_South_Korea.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Various Image:UNSG map.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:UNSG_map.png License: Public Domain Contributors: BlankMap-World.png: The map was made by User:Vardion and adapted by User:E Pluribus Anthony for Wikipedia. derivative work: Mtys (talk)

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