“It is a war zone; civilians and others need surgical help.”
Jan Egeland
Special Advisor to UN Special Envoy for Syria
Upon the rising population of refugee from Syria, the further progress in the humanitarian relief efforts in the conflict-battered country especially Syria is urgent and in need of hand. By accessing more area or state in Syria, it can be discovered that more medical aid is needed such as vaccines for children. Despite from that, critical shortfalls in humanitarian funding increase the challenges of UN. As the funding gap between humanitarian needs and resources deteriorate, humanitarian activities is difficult to carry out successfully. For instance, humanitarian convoys have already reached or got verbal government consent to reach most of the 18 besieged areas, except in Darayya and Douma on 23th March 2016.
According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson Christophe Boulierac, whose agency is also involved in planning the convoy, said half the 42,000 people in the town were children in need of urgent life-saving assistance. Besides that, the tragic situation of children in Madaya was an example of the dire situation of the 4.5 million people, over two million of them children, living in hard-to-reach and besieged areas. All world now are concerned about the response of UN in the humanitarian attitude towards the above case. Apart from that, humanitarian activities always faced challenges which is unimpeded access to people in hard-to-reach and besieged areas, with only 10 per cent of all requests for UN inter-agency convoys to these areas approved and delivered in 2015. This worsened the situation in Madaya area because almost 42,000 people are at risk of starvation.
Humanitarian issue still remain concerned by community especially the welfare and future of children who suffered due to the effect of war and politics. Thus United Nations faced great challenges and pressure as the result of the concerning of community towards UN on how to help the future of these children.
3.1.3 Discrimination against women and girls
Data for up to 178 countries and concludes that inequality between women and men persists across a wide spectrum of the global labor market.
Report of Women at Work: Trends 2016
In the 21th century, women and girls continue to suffer discrimination and violence in every part of the world. Even though women and girls had proven that their contributions in the history is exactly essential and brought a lot of innovation as well as convenience for human being. However, achieving equality between women and men as partners looked like still far away to achieve. As we know, gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.
Gender inequality can be shown through the salary of women employee is on average 77 per cent of what men earn. This gap from wages is not purposely due to the differences in education or age, but because of the undervaluation of the work women undertake and the skills required in female-dominated sectors or occupations, discrimination, and the need for women to take career breaks or reduce hours in paid work to attend to additional care responsibilities such as child care.
Another discrimination against women can be proved by the working hours of women employees longer than men in both paid and unpaid work. Based on the statistic, in both high and lower income countries, on average, women carry out at least two and a half times more unpaid household and care work than men. In addition, across more than 100 countries surveyed, more than one third of employed men (35.5 per cent) and more than one fourth of employed women (25.7 per cent) work more than 48 hours a week. This also affects the unequal distribution of unpaid household and care work between women and men.
Based on the above statement, this can prove that women and girls are discriminated in the working field. Gender equality in working area still need to be improved so that every human being can be treated fairly and have equal opportunity.
3.2 Internal Challenges
3.2.1 Selection of Successive Secretary-General
Selection process for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations has produced several distinguished Secretaries-General. But the lack of transparency and inclusiveness of the exercise has become increasingly noticeable, and the UN process compares poorly with the practices of some other international organizations.
As the Charter of the United Nations specifies that “ the Secretary-General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.” From the above selection way had aroused the query and interrogation of external .Hence the member states of UN requested to have transparency selection process and critical examination for the successive Secretary-General. In practice, the Security Council nominates a single candidate who is then endorsed by the General Assembly. No list of qualifications is required and agreed, no formal screening takes place, and the GA membership is asked to declare itself on the nominated candidate without the benefit of relevant information or even informal consultations.
4. Proper Roles of the Secretary-General
“The most impossible job on this Earth.”
–Trygve Lie, the first Secretary-General in United Nations
New York’s Idlewild Airport, 9 April 1953.
Being a Secretary-General of United Nations, their responsibility and role is kept changing from time to time as the different global issues faced. The Secretary-General is the appointed representative of the United Nations by the General Assembly with the nomination and support of Security Council. With good expectation of public, Secretary-General plays significant roles in solving conflict aroused from peace and security, economics and social, human rights, international law,humanitarian and many more. As we know, the duty of Secretary-General is not only heavy and burden, but also need to work under great pressure, criticism and opposition,even in the situation of contradictory.
4.1.1 Maintain Cooperation and Collaboration with the Security Council
Flashback with historical issues that happened in the past, Secretary-General should avoid of being caught in public with undermines the effectiveness and legitimacy of international public servants. The Secretary-General performs as the mediating role in the international crisis which needs to balance the power of both parties. For examples the deadlock between Iran and Security Council should be prevented so that contradictory case would not be happened again. In conjuction with that case, the parties that involved is too many and people are looking forward to the decision and solution of Secretary-General. From the case above, we can expect that how to maintain credibility with member states is based on the way of Secretary-General in dealing with the Security Council. The Secretary-General must find approaches in cooperation with Security Council because this will be very helpful in enlighten and harmonizing international peace and security as well as develop friendly relations with nations. Every member of the Security Council must trust the Secretary-General to consult first, and then to act with discretion. If not, this will be difficult where the Secretary-General exercises the prerogative to speak against one state in the name of whole.
4.1.2 Voice out for the women among public
You need us because we women are willing to sit together on the same side of the table and together look at our complex joint history, with the commitment and intention of not getting up until-in respect and reciprocity—we can get up together and begin our new history and fulfill our joint destiny.
–Terry Greenblatt, speaking before the UN Security Council, May 2002.
Women are considered as the weak
individuals among the public especially during war times. Struggled with the old concept and mind-set, women is hard to survive and obtain higher position in the company due to the physical condition is weaker than men. Therefore, the Secretary-General should act as the leader to constraint the abusing women case from happening, no matter from physical, sexual or oral violence.
In order to empower women, the United Nations had launched Step it Up for Gender Equality Media Compact during 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). As one of the launching program in order to get closer with the target set, achieving gender equality and women’s rights by 2030 is getting closer.
4.1.3 Impartial Mediator, Broker and Diplomacy Roles in between the nations
Diplomatic interaction in international organizations like the United Nations is complex and multifaceted. Due to the wide range of participants countries involved and numerous issues on the table, a number of interrelated processes often unfold simultaneously. Hence it is obviously that bilateral diplomacy will face a series of challenges such as political issues, divergence opinion or even contradictory condition.Secretary-General need to have capability of gaining the trust necessary to pull the diverse coalitions and institutional partnerships together.Whether we think in political, policy, or ethical terms, gaining the trust of member states means, at the very least, “no surprise”. The first diplomatic role in United Nations should rather be to facilitate communication and cooperation among shifting groups of governments, each of which seeks to harness the powers of the world against another. This diplomatic role requires that the Secretary-General garner the confidence of those with extremely diverse perspectives, whose interests are not likely to be harmonized by any single leadership vision. This was difficult enough to succeed in this job, nonetheless successfully to break out and breakthrough during the Cold War.