United Nations Secretary-General

Dag Hammarskjöld. The Soviet Union wanted him replaced by a three-man directorate. He was killed when his plane crashed during a peace mission.

The United Nations Secretary-General is the head of the Secretariat, one of the principal divisions of the United Nations. According to the United Nations Charter, the Secretary-General is to be appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. It is widely considered the most influential role in the United Nations. Traditonally the Secretary general must in de facto be a non-national of any of the permanent security council nations, and also terms must be represented by every continent de facto in a cycle.

Current office-holder

Kofi Annan

The current Secretary-General is Kofi Annan of Ghana. His appointment began on January 1, 1997, and his second term began on January 1, 2002. "I am a cheerleader, I am a promoter, I am a salesman, I am a debt collector, I am a father confessor and there are other aspects I still have to discover," Annan has said in describing his job.

The current Deputy Secretary-General is Mark Malloch Brown.

Role

The Secretary-General is described by the Charter as the "chief administrative officer" of the organization. Originally some felt that the role of the Secretary-General should be purely administrative. It was the Norwegian Trygve Lie, the first Secretary-General, who asserted that it was his role to speak out and act as leader and mediator. Every Secretary-General since has spoken out on global issues and used his good offices to mediate disputes. This is in keeping with the original vision of U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, who held office just before the creation of the UN and had much influence on its shaping, that the organization should be headed by a "world moderator."

Term and selection

The Secretary-General is appointed to a five year term. UN Secretaries-General usually serve two consecutive terms, but sometimes only one. The Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly, on the recommendation of the Security Council. Therefore, the selection is subject to the veto of any of the five permanent members of the Security Council.

By convention, the position rotates by geographic region, but since Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt served only one term, a successor from Africa, Kofi Annan of Ghana, was chosen. When Annan had finished his first term, the member states were so impressed with his performance that he was appointed for a second term despite the fact that the next Secretary-General should have been from Asia. There has not yet been a Secretary-General from North America or Oceania.

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 Anthony Eden were considered for the first Secretary-General position, but were rejected in favour of the uncontroversial Norwegian Trygve Lie. Due to international politics and mechanicisms of political compromise, there are many similarities between the process and ideals for selecting the Secretary-General and those of selecting leading figures in other international organizations, including the election of Popes in the Roman Catholic Church.

Possible successors to Kofi Annan

Rumours have recently surfaced that former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos have set their sights on becoming Secretary-General. However, the nomination of Mr. Clinton, who is from a Security Council state, would be a break from tradition, and both Clinton and Lagos have denied that they have aspirations to hold the job. Some consider it to be Asia's turn to fill the post. No announcement has been made, but behind the scenes China is already pushing the candidacy of Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, who also seems to have the support of the U.S., Russia, and Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Former Foreign Minister of Timor-Leste and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate José Ramos-Horta is also considered a strong candidate, as is Jayantha Dhanapala of Sri Lanka. Dhanapala is well reputed in UN circles especially for his contribution to disarmament issues.

Other possible candidates are South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon; undersecretary general for the department of public information Shashi Tharoor of India; Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and former Director General of the WHO; Tarja Halonen, the current President of Finland; Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, the current President of Latvia, and Aleksander Kwaśniewski, the former President of Poland.

There is also a strong feeling that it should be a female Secretary-General this time, because secretaries for the past 60 years have all been men. Current New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, and former New Zealand Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright have been tipped as candidates after being promoted by international women's group Equality Now.

Bill Clinton has himself suggested Tony Blair, current British PM, when he retires.

Proposed abolition

In the early 1960s, Soviet ruler Nikita Khrushchev led an effort to abolish the Secretary-General position. The numerical superiority of the Western powers 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.