Essay: Proper Role of the Secretary-General

Proper Role of the Secretary-General: Essential Qualities and Discipline of a Secretary-General amidst the pressing challenges faced by the United Nations
Abstract
This research paper questions the calibration of roles played by the Secretary-General in conjunction with the many trials and problems faced by the United Nations in this global era. On the overview, this paper query about the ‘supposed’ qualities and discipline that a Secretary-General should possess in order to lead the United Nations in overcoming its many overwhelming problems and crisis that it faces in this challenging world today. In this 21st century, many untoward and sensitive issues arises due to the difference in political views and general beliefs. The Brussels Attack in Belgium on 23rd of March 2016 and the Paris Attack on the 13th of November 2015 left many innocence dead and caused a riot in these countries. The question that surface here is how is this problem resolved among the countries that is involved? Would the country that’s been attacked or victimised declare war against the country that initiated the strike? Thus, here is where the Secretary-General of the United Nations plays an important and crucial role in determining what is to be done or what action should be undertaken to tackle this issue as it involves both the member countries of the United Nations. The authority of the Secretary-General in viewing and addressing this matter is highly challenged regarding this circumstances. Yet, this paper also highlights the necessary characteristics and regulations deemed fit that a Secretary-General should portray, which would be favourable in his terms when administering and leading a worldwide organization in this considerably changing globalization world nowadays.
1.0 Introduction
Growing out of post-World War 11 strains between the two nations, the Cold War friction between the United States and the Soviet Union that prolonged for much of the second half of the 20th century resulted in mutual suspicions and heightened anxiety that lead the world’s superpowers to the brink of disaster. The establishment of the United Nations in these period led the organization to many unfavourable expectations and many of its peacekeeping missions did not achieve its goals. It was indeed a ‘cold’ period for the United Nations in its history.
With the end of the Cold War in late 1991, the United Nations took great steps and measures to ensure that this history does not repeat again in the future. But as the quote quotes, ‘History Repeats Itself, First as Tragedy, Second as Farce’ (Karl Marx). In the global world today, there are still occurrence of war and the emerging of new threats such as climate and environmental problems are taxing.
How do we solve this non-stop emerging problems and crisis in the world we live in today? What should we do? How can we do it? By what means and modes do we need in order to resolve this matter? This is where the United Nations Organization serves its purpose. As the world’s global organization in peacekeeping, the Secretary-General as the head of the United Nations alongside with the members of the United Nations put their heads together to overcome these arising issues faced globally.
The Secretary-General is often viewed as a prominent leader and advocate. To what extend or to put it simply, to what measures does the Secretary-General perform to lift up to this perspective? What are the roles portrayed by the Secretary-General as the top leader of the United Nations amidst the multiple challenges faced? What qualities does the Secretary-General displays and requires in order to be one? These questions are answered in this paper. ‘
2.0 Overview of the United Nations?
The name ‘United Nations’ coined by US President Franklin D.Roosevelt was first used in the Declaration of United Nations in 1 January 1942, during second world war. The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1945 to promote international co-operation and is currently made up of 193 Member States where the missions and works of the United Nations are led by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter. Its objective include maintaining international peace and security, promoting human rights, fostering social and economic development, protecting the environment and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster and armed conflict. Each of the 193 Member States of the United Nations is a member of the General Assembly and are admitted to membership in the United Nations by resolution of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.
The main organs of the United Nations are the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice and the United Nations Secretariat, all established in 1945 when it was founded. The Secretariat, one of the main organs of the United Nations is headed by the Secretary-General. The United Nations system, also known unofficially as the ‘United Nations Family’, is made up of the United Nations itself and many affiliated programmes, funds and specialized agencies, all with their own membership, leadership and budget. The programmes and trusts are funded through voluntary rather than assessed benefaction while the Specialized Agencies are funded by both voluntary and assessed contributions.   *Source: UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations
3.0 Secretary-General of the United Nations
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is a symbol of the organizations ideals and a spokesman for the interests of the worlds people, in particular the poor and vulnerable. The United Nations website specify that the Secretary-General be equal parts diplomat and advocate, civil servant and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). These guidelines also demands that the Secretary-General uphold the values of the United Nations, even if it is at the risk of challenging member states. Secretary-Generals of the United Nations usually comes from countries which are considered to be small-to medium-sized neutral powers, are career diplomats and serve no more than two five-year terms.
Where regional rotations are observed, the nationals of the five permanent members of the Security-Council which are the United States, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom are ineligible. The Secretary-General transcends a merely administrative role by his authority to bring situations to the attentions of various United Nations organs, by his position as an impartial party in effecting conciliation and especially by his power to ‘perform such functions as are entrusted to him’ by other United Nations organs. Also strengthening the office of Secretary-General is the large secretariat staff, which is recruited on a wide geographic basis and is required to work exclusively in the interest of the organization. The current Secretary-General and the 8th occupant of the post is Mr. Ban      Ki-moon of the Republic of Korea, who took office on 1 January 2007. The United Nations Charter describes and views the Secretary-General as ‘Chief Administrative Officer’ of the organization.
*Current Members of the Security Council as of 2016
Source: News Straits Time (NST), Malaysia
4.0 Challenges faced by the UN and roles of Secretary-General as top public servant
Violent extremism, massive population movements, cyber-attacks, transnational crime and other evolving threats to global security are the many challenges faced by the United Nations today. In relation to this complication, what are the bases and roles of the Secretary-General and what means of actions does the Secretary-General needs to undertake to qualify as top international public servant?
Terrorism, natural disasters, epidemics and other non-traditional threats are impending dangers faced by the United Nations today. This multitude pressing challenges requires strengthened cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations, which are stressed by the speakers in the Security Council today. The Secretary-General plays the role of a diplomat in handling this matter. As the influential participant in the legal discourse that infuses much of global politics, the Secretary-General of the United Nations should encourage regional organizations to overcome conflicts and promote peace and security based on the United Nations Charter, particularly respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Transformations in the international and regional systems had led to a change in the nature of security threats where terrorism is one of the region which pose an international threat. The Secretary-General through the United Nations could portray an important diplomatic role in strengthening regional and sub regional organizations on the basis of a new mechanism for dialogue and exchanges to conquer this matter. Besides, transnational crime and human trafficking are also one of the major challenges encountered by the United Nations today. Sustainability through predictable financing, trilateral arrangements and greater interactions between the Secretary-General alongside the Security Council and regional bodies could polish effectiveness in such area.
The changing nature of current threats such as proliferation of ailments, Trans border crimes and pandemics are also the many pressing challenges faced by certain member countries of the United Nations particularly Africa. The Secretary-General of the United Nations plays the crucial role of a politician in handling this crisis. The Secretary-General should fortify its strategic partnership with the African Union by, inter alia, ensuring predictable and reliable availability and disbursement of resources for African peacekeepers. Moreover, emerging threats that poses great warning includes environmental hazards, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, forced displacement, food insecurity and the demobilisation of child soldiers are among the pressing matters faced by the United Nations. To resolve this particular issues, the Secretary-General as a respected politician alongside the 54 member countries of the United Nations, is developing and executing policies and programmes of economic and social development through the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) organization.
 
Other threats faced by member countries of the United Nations is inclusive of smuggling of migrants, irregular migration, climate changes, ensuring energy security and cyber space security. Besides, transnational terrorism and its new forms, such as the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters, were posing asymmetric peril to regional and international organizations of the United Nations. In handling this matter, close political cooperation between the Secretary-General of the United Nations and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and other regional organizations for full exploitation of their potential in early warning and prevention of crisis management are essential for maintenance of international peace and security. Regarding in handling of this matter, the Secretary-Generals role as a politician is crucially tested.
Next, the United Nations also faces challenges in handling the matter of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories where unacceptable level of violence and a polarized public disclosure occurs. Reprehensible actions such as stabbings, vehicle ramming’s, incitement of violence and other attacks by Palestinians targeting Israeli civilians are deplorable. The Secretary-General, a politician representing the United Nations are curbing this problem by calling for substantial changes in policy to strengthen the economics, institutional and security pillars of the Palestine Authority alongside the United States, the European Union and the Russian Federation.
Climate changes has also become a pressing matter considering the floods, droughts and fires that are getting worse, island nations which will disappear and the extinction of uncounted species. In this matter, the Secretary-General take up the role as international civil servant by providing strategic leadership. The Secretary-General as the head of the United Nations has call more than 166 countries around the world, which collectively amount for 90% of emissions to submit natural climate plans with targets.
AIDS crisis is among the stumbling block that is faced by Africa, one of the member countries of the United Nations. In regarding this matter, a Joint Clinical Research Centre in Kampala, Africa is established to support the numerous patients it has. Besides, contemporary disaster-risk levels are alarming, where the price of damage to commercial and residential worldwide is worrying at an average of $314 billion each year. As international civil servant, the Secretary-General of the United Nations alongside major businesses such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, IBM and others are engaging with experts to ameliorate global strategies for disaster-risk management and reduction.
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5.0 Required Qualities & Discipline of a Secretary-General
In view of the practices and achievements of the successive Secretary-General, one of the required qualities and discipline of a Secretary-General is diplomatic skills. Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting and handling communication between representatives, which is a crucial skill needed by a leader, especially one involving the communication and relationship between different countries in an organization such as the United Nations, which is made up of 193 member states.
The current and 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, portrays the diplomacy skill well versed. His expansive diplomatic attempt have helped put the 2007 Climate Change Summit issue at the forefront of the global agenda. In promoting sustainable development, the Secretary-General through his considerable diplomacy skill, has effectively appealed to the G20 for a $1 trillion financing package for developing countries and took other tremendous steps to guide and lead the international response plus protecting the vulnerable and poor.
The preceding Secretary-General which portrays great diplomacy skill is Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjold, the 2nd Secretary General of the United Nations, who was chosen because of his calm demeanour, diplomatic skills and knowledge of political economics. Under the leadership of Mr. Hammarskjold, continuous diplomatic activity in support of the Armistice Agreements between Israel and the Arab States were held and promoting progress towards a better and more peaceful conditions in the area was conducted.
Besides, under his supervision, the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) was established in 1956 to serve an end to the Suez-Sinai Campaign and his assistance in the peaceful solution of the Suez Canal dispute lead to the clearance of the Suez Canal in 1957. Thus, this highlights the great importance of diplomatic skill as they are the skills set for building relationship, developing allies and collaborating with adversaries and naysayers to promote advance ideas, thoughts and beliefs.
Next, charismatic leadership skills are an important requirement of a Secretary-General, as these charismatic leaders have a quality which attracts followers and inspires people to action. The current Secretary-General delineate significant charismatic leadership skill in strengthening the United Nations peace efforts through the New Horizons peacekeeping initiative, the Global Field Support Strategy and the Civilian Capacity Review, which is a package of steps to upgrade the impact of 120,000 United Nations ‘blue helmets’ operating in the world’s conflict zones.
Mr. Ban Ki-moon’s charismatic leadership skill is also defined in his sought to fortify humanitarian response in the aftermath of mega-disasters in Myanmar (2008), Haiti (2010) and Pakistan (2010) including mobilized United Nations support for the democratic transitions in North Africa and the Middle East. In mutual, the 5th Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar also possessed great charismatic leadership skills. He repeatedly recommend the use of the United Nations Security Council for peacekeeping and serving as a forum for negotiations.
Under the leadership of Cuellar, where he personally negotiated the cease-fire, the active hostilities in the Iran-Iraq war ended. During his tenure, the stalemate inflicted upon the United Nations by the rivalries of the Cold War came to an end and long-standing political issues in Namibia, Cambodia and Latin America were hell-bent with success by the United Nations peacekeeping missions.
Moreover, the Secretary-General must be a visionary of sorts’ type of person, which is someone who is able to look forward and ahead to articulate his own views of how to prioritize among the United Nations dizzying array of programmes and problems. The current Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, in generating new momentum on disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation has sought to restore the disarmament agenda through a five-point plan. He also endeavours to break the deadlock at the Conference on Disarmament and reward heed to nuclear safety and security in the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Trygve Halvdan Lie, the very first Secretary-General of the United Nations possess this skill. Mr. Trygve Lie, as Secretary-General, made robust efforts to convene world opinion in such difficulties as the Korean War. An astonishing initiative, Trygve Lie’s Twenty-Year Peace Plan was developed during the first half of 1950, proposing the installation of a United Nations force to avert or stop localized outbreaks of violence.
Decisiveness is among the qualities and discipline that a Secretary-General requires, which is the ability to make decisions quickly and firmly. Mr. Ban Ki-moon portrays this quality in the strengthening of the United Nations, by establishing new measures aimed at making the United Nations more transparent, effective and efficient. This is inclusive of heightened financial disclosure requirements, harmonization of business practices and conditions of service including investments in information technology and staff development.
U Thant and Kofi A. Annan, the 3rd and 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations respectively, displays decisiveness qualities. U Thant strive to bring peace to the Middle East as the leader of the world organization, and although the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war took place, he was victorious at various times in preventing the rival combatants. On the other hand, a central role was played by Kofi Annan, in the creation of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the adoption of the United Nations first ever canter-terrorism strategy and the acceptance by Member States of the ‘responsibility to protect’ people from genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
A Secretary-General must also be even-handed, who is fair and impartial in treatments or judgement. The current occupant of the post as the head of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon pressed successfully for the establishment of United Nations Women, a major new agency that consolidates the United Nations work in this field. The Secretary-General’s advocacy for women’s rights and gender equality is inclusive of the ‘Unite to End Violence against Women’ campaign, the ‘Stop Rape Now’ initiative, the creation of a ‘Network of Men Leaders’ and the initiation of a new Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict.
 
Under his leadership within the United Nations itself, the number of women in senior management positions has increased by 40 per cent. This shows the unbiased treatment and supporting of equality among men and women in today’s global world. The preceding Secretary-Generals who portrays even-handedness is Kurt Joseph Waldheim and Boutros Boutros-Ghali who is the 4th and 6th occupant of the post respectively.
Kurt oversaw the enormous relief operations the United Nations had ever undertaken, yielding relief in Bangladesh and in drought-affected areas of Africa. During the period of 8 years as the United Nations leader, Kurt promoted the ideas of world peace, justice and equality, and human rights. He initiated talks which led to the end of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Boutros-Ghali established the Department for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and strenuously supported the United Nations mediation in post-Cold War strife, where his term saw lengthy and arduous peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Somalia and Rwanda.
 
6.0 Conclusion
The year 2016 marks the United Nations 71 years old since its establishment in 1945. During this period of time, the United Nations has gone through and faced many major and minor challenges, not forgetting the numerous achievements it has accomplished along these years. After 70 years since the day it was established, the United Nations has achieved a lot of significant accomplishments which have remarkable impact to the world. Among the many substantial achievements attained are, the United Nations has fought unceasingly for the voting right of people in areas such as Iraq, where the ideology of dictatorship is still governing. With the aid of the United Nations, Iraq is no longer ruled by dominating monarchy but by a government elected by the citizens. Besides, the World Food Programme under the United Nations feeds 104 million people in 80 countries every year. While the United Nations has had its fair share of victory, its aging structure has scuffled with new threats and ultimatum like Ebola and terrorist groups that govern large areas of its member countries. With the escalating number of many new problematic issues each day, all these questionable complication would not be resolved without the role played by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. In the absence of the Secretary-General, no crisis and problems will be fixed and no achievements will be recorded thus far in overcoming global issues. Hence, the role played by the Secretary-General is of great importance in ensuring the stability and development of the global nation. The qualities and discipline portrayed by the Secretary-General will further enhance his role in undertaking and tackling his position as the global leader.