This is a discussion on the United Nations (UN) especially its Chief Administrative Officer, Secretary-General about the qualities and discipline of a Secretary-General should have in order to complete their job aspects and to achieve the goals of UN. Besides, it also discussed about the challenges that UN is facing for now throughout the world and the initiatives that they have took and they will take in the future to overcome these problems.
With all these focus I have, I referred to journals, articles, websites that are related to the topics (For example, the official website of UN.) and some of the reports from various sources to justify my discussions. Furthermore, I discussed with my friends to obtain their opinion toward the UN and also the qualities that they think that a Secretary-General had.
Finally, I found out some serious challenges that UN is facing now, that are the human rights problems which include education problem and status of women and humanitarian problems such as refugee problem, health issue, children right and also hungry issue. At the same time, I also realized that UN had put a lot of efforts in solving all these challenges. For instance, the present Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon sought to rejuvenate the disarmament agenda through a five-point plan, the efforts to break the deadlock at the Conference on Disarmament and the attention to nuclear safety and security in the aftermath of the tragedy at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Other than the effort they made, UN is also setting the other goals to help this world become more complete and beautiful such as they hope to make the education to every child include the children in Africa and other low income countries.
In short, from the deed of each Secretary-General, I can see that the future Secretary-Generals should be brave to take the responsibilities, visionary and some others qualities that like the previous Secretary-Generals have to help them in completing these dreams. Although I am not one of those suffering, I still have empathy on those suffering and hope that their problems will be settled one day and allow them to carry out the normal living as a human with their basic necessities fulfilled. Being still a powerless student, I could only hope that my wish for a peaceful world with everyone living happily can come true at this moment. Yet, when I am economically independent later when I started my career, I will try my best to help the needy people.
1 Background of United Nations (UN)
The name of "United Nations (UN)", proposed by the United States President, Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was first being used in the Declaration by United Nations on 1 January 1942, when representatives of 26 nations pledged their Governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers during the Second World War. In 1945, representatives from 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to form a complete United Nations Charter and signed it on 26 June 1945. Poland was not represented at the Conference at first, but it signed it later and became one of the original 51 Member States. The United Nations established officially on 24 October 1945, when China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and a majority of other signatories had authorized the Charter.
Currently, the United Nations contains 193 Member States from different countries and the work and mission of the United Nations are guided by the purposes and principles contained in its own founding Charter. Furthermore, because of the powers vested in its Charter and its special international character, UN can take actions on the issues such as peace and security, disarmament, terrorism, climate change, sustainable development, human rights, humanitarian and health emergencies, gender equality, governance, food production, and so forth.
Besides, a forum is provided for the all members to express their opinions in the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, and other bodies and committees. From the dialogue and negotiation between the members, the General Assembly has become a medium for every government of the member states to find the areas of agreement and solve problems together.
Finally, the UN's Chief Administrative Officer is the Secretary-General that becomes a symbol to UN itself.
1.1 The United Nations System
General Assembly
General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. Every September, all UN membership will meet in the General Assembly Hall in New York for the annual General Assembly session and general debate. Decisions on serious problems, such as those on peace and security, require a two-thirds majority while decisions on other problems are by simple majority. Each year, it will elect a General Assembly President to serve an office of one-year term.
Security Council
The Security Council has primary responsibility, for the maintenance of international peace and security. Under the Charter, all Member States are obligated to comply with Council decisions. It also leads in determining the presence of a threat to the peace and recommends methods of adjustments or terms of settlement. Afterall, it can call upon the related parties to solve it by peaceful means. In some cases, it can authorize the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security. It has a one-month Presidency, which rotates and changes.
Economic and Social Council
This is the principal body taking responsibility for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as implementation of internationally agreed development goals. It serves as the central mechanism for activities of the UN system and its specialized agencies in the economic, social and environmental fields, supervising subsidiaries and expert bodies. It is the United Nations’ central platform for reflection, debate, and innovative thinking on sustainable development.
Trusteeship Council
The Trusteeship Council is to provide international supervision for 11 Trust Territories that had been placed under the administration of seven Member States, and ensure that adequate steps were taken to prepare the Territories for self-government and independence. By 1994, all Trust Territories had attained self-government or independence. As a resolution adopted on 25 May 1994, the Council amended its rules of procedure to drop the obligation to meet annually and agreed to meet as occasion required. The Trusteeship Council suspended operation on 1 November 1994.
International Court of Justice
This is the principal judicial organ of UN. It is located at the Peace Palace in the Hague (Netherlands). The Court’s role is to settle legal disputes submitted to it by States according to international law, and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorised United Nations organs and specialised agencies.
Secretariat
It comprises the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of internationally and locally recruited UN staff members who carry out the daily work of the UN. The Secretary-General is the chief administrative officer of the Organisation, appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council for a five-year renewable term.
1.2 The Secretary-Generals
a) Gladwyn Jebb (October 1945 – February 1946), United Kingdom
b) Trygve Lie (February 1946 – November 1952), Norway
c) Dag Hammarskjöld (April 1953 – September 1961), Sweden
d) U Thant (November 1962 – December 1971), Burma
e) Kurt Waldheim (January 1972 – December 1981), Austria
f) Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (January 1982 – December 1991), Peru
g) Boutros Boutros-Ghali (January 1992 – December 1996), Egypt
h) Kofi A. Annan (Januar
y 1997 – December 2006), Afican
i) Ban Ki-moon (January 2007 – present), Republic of Korea
2 The Challenges That UN Faces Today
2.1 Human Right
Human rights are considered as freedoms to be entitled to all humans. It often includes the rights to life, liberty, equality, and a fair trial and so forth. However, global human rights challenges, such as migration, disabilities, rights of women and children, sexual orientation, and the rights of various minorities, are being addressed through promotion of equality and countering discrimination.
2.1.1 Quality Education for All
Education is a right, similar to the right to have proper food or a roof over your head. Article 26 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “everyone has the right to education”. Education is not only a right but a fundamental factor for human live. It opens up the doors for everyone to expand their opportunities. It contributes to the fostering of peace, democracy and economic growth as well as improving health and reducing poverty.
However, there are some poor children who are not given the opportunity to pursue their education but started to work at a very young. From the survey and research that was done by Global Citizen on June 2014, there are some barriers to education, which are:
a) Insufficient of funding for education
b) Lack of qualified teacher and suitable place to study
c) Deficiency of learning and teaching materials
d) The gender inequality in education
e) Living in a country that is unstable
f) Distance from home to school is too far
g) Hunger and poor nutrition problems
Although the reasons above are just a few of them, but we have to regard this problem as a significant issue which requires immediate actions. Without children, without education, how could we foster a group of future leaders? Therefore, United Nations should take it as one of the main challenge that they have to manage.
2.1.2 Commission on the Status of Women
In this 21st century, the living standard of people is aggressively improving. However, the status of women is still being looked down by some societies. For example, in Southern Asia, only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990.
Women’s rights around the world is an important indicator to understand global well-being. Yet, numerous issues still exist in all areas of life, ranging from the cultural, political to the economic. For example, women often work more than men, yet are paid less; gender discrimination affects girls and women throughout their lifetime; and women and girls are often the ones that suffer the most poverty.
Socially disadvantaged individuals often encounter resistance when they rise to high-status and positions. For example, women, according to status characteristics theory, will be disadvantaged relative to men in social interactions, other things being equal (Lucas J.W).
On the other hand, in the reality world, women can also be leaders. For example, Park Geun-hye, the first woman that be elected as President in South Korea. She proved that a woman can lead a country even her status as a woman that had been looked down by society before. Thus, UN should put in the effort to make sure every girl or woman has the right to be themselves and has an equal opportunity of education, the prospect in job position and etc.
2.2 Humanitarian
Humanitarian, which means an action or a thinking that a person or a group of people actively engaged in promoting human welfare and social reforms. From the population displacements caused by war, weather and natural disasters, to the impact of such disruptions on health, hygiene, education, nutrition and even basic shelter, there exist a lot of humanitarian problems.
2.2.1 Global Health Issues
Everyone has the right to have a quality living standard for the health and well-being, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security, in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948). Some global health issues tremendously spread around the world. For instance, Ebola. The people couldn’t have prediction of this outbreak, particularly in West Africa, which had never before experienced it.
As the research done by Humanosphere (NATHE, 2016), there are 10 topics related to global health issues in year 2016 as below:
a) There are more than 59.5 million refugees today.
b) The enduring wealth gap.
c) Politics and power shifts.
d) The health system as a whole.
e) Climate change.
f) Emerging and waning health threats.
g) Air pollution.
h) A reversal in the health worker shortage.
i) Mental health for trauma survivors.
j) Ebola’s unprecedented survivors.
From the result, we know that the infections of the diseases most probably come from refugees that move worldwide. The lack of food, purified water and medicine cause them to get the disease easily. When they move around the world, they bring the virus to residents that live in that country and cause the global health issue.
2.2.2 Refugees Issues
A world with booming development is peaceful when people can feel safe and secure in their homes, with their families and their loved ones. However, when natural disasters affect the people's homes to be washed away, blown away, or shaken to the ground, it broke everyone’s heart. When war or civil unrest ravages a community, people are forcibly displaced or simply flee to protect their life and limb. At the extreme situation, they are only left with two options, either death or life in exile. They become refugees.
The core definition of a "refugee" is explained in the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, which define a refugee as an individual who: "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country."
In 2010, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) counted 43.3 million forcibly displaced people worldwide—the highest number since the mid-1990s. This included 27.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), 15.2 million refugees and 983,000 asylum-seekers.
The understanding on the effort in helping or protecting of the refugees is very important. Besides of preventing them from spreading the diseases to the world, we also need to protect their rights as human by providing them the basic needs even their country was doomed by war. This requires thinking through the action from various institutes such as government, non-government organization, United Nations and etc. Hands-on work ahead, to promote the public awareness to all and hope to formulate a better policy.
2.2.3 Rights for Children
“The forced recruitment and use of child soldiers is one of the most appalling human rights abuses in the world today. It is unacceptable that, every day, thousands of children are compelled to endure and inflict violence that no child in this world should ever have to experience. The recruitment and use of children in warfare violates international law. It also violates our most basic standards of human decency. The entire United Nations system and I are determined to stamp out such abuse.” (Ki-moon, United Nations, 2009)
In fiscal year 2013, an estimated 679,000 children were found to have experienced maltreatment, 402,378 children and youths in foster care and 19,499 young people aged out of foster care. It is also estimated tha
t 1,484 children die each year due to child abuse and neglect, and most experts report that this number may be much higher.
Children are the leaders of tomorrow. They are the hope of our country and the pillars of the society. However, from the research as mentioned before, they are actually suffering from the unfair treatments. They are abused, maltreated, ignored, and lack of basic needs. As a center of all the member countries, United Nations should pay attention on this issue.
2.2.4 Hungry Issue
Food is a necessary need to us. In fact, poor nutrition causes nearly half (45 per cent) of deaths in children under five – 3.1 million children each year. One in four of the world’s children suffer stunted growth. In developing countries, the proportion can rise to one in three. 66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone. Why this ever exists? From the research done by World Food Program (WFP) (Unknown, n.d.), there are 6 important reasons that can explain the hungry problems in the world.
a) Poverty trap
b) Lack of investment in agriculture
c) Climate and weather
d) War and displacement
e) Unstable markets
f) Food wastage
From the research, we can see that the main reason that caused hungry is poverty trap that normally happen in poor country such as Africa. Some of the children died of the reason of lack of nutrition, clean water and other basic needs. Why this happens?
3 The Role of United Nations (Secretary-General) in Solving the Challenges that They Face Today
3.1 Human Right
3.1.1 Quality Education for All
Since Ban Ki-moon became UN’s Secretary-General, he has been emphasizing the sustainable development in different aspects. In September 2015, the UN General Assembly formally adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, along with a set of 17 bold new Global Goals, which Mr. Ban hailed as a universal, integrated and transformative vision for a better world.
For education part, UN has introduced many ways such as UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UN Children’s Fund, UN Development Program, Global Education First Initiative and UN Population Fund such as Comprehensive sexuality education, to improve the quality in education.
With the programs that UN has proceeded, staff members from the United Nations Information Center in Lagos introduced more than 2,500 students to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals at a special workshop at Nurul Hudda Primary School in Tudun Wada Zaria, Nigeria on October 2015. UNIC Lagos Director Ronald Kayanja and National Information Officer Oluseyi Soremekun explained each of the goals and then briefed the students about the UN’s work in promoting global peace and development.
The event was the first such outreach program held in northwest Nigeria.
3.1.2 Commission on the Status of Women
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. A functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) was established by Council resolution 11(II) of 21 June 1946.
The CSW is instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women.
During the Commission’s annual two-week session, representatives of UN Member States, civil society organizations and UN entities gather at UN headquarters in New York to discuss progress and gaps in the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the key global policy document on gender equality, and the 23rd special session of the General Assembly held in 2000 (Beijing+5), as well as emerging issues that affect gender equality and the empowerment of women. Once member States agree on further actions to accelerate progress and promote women’s enjoyment of their rights in political, economic and social fields, the outcomes and recommendations of each session will be forwarded to ECOSOC for follow-up.
The Commission adopts multi-year work programs to appraise progress and make further recommendations to accelerate the implementation of the Platform for Action. These recommendations take the form of negotiated agreed conclusions on a priority theme. For example, the theme for year 2016: Women’s empowerment and the link to sustainable development. It carries the meaning of the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls.
Institutionalizing women as leaders may overcome such detrimental. Drawing from status characteristics theory and institutional theory, it is expected that institutionalization of female leadership can reduce the influence gap between women and men by legitimating structures of female leadership. Results of an experiment conducted to test this idea show that, as predicted, a male leader obtained higher effect than a female leader. Institutionalization, however, reduced the advantage of men such that female leaders appointed on ability when female leadership was institutionalized attained influence as high as male leaders appointed on ability when female leadership was not institutionalized.
3.2 Humanitarian
“Today, we recognize the millions of people who count on us for their very survival. The one billion people afflicted by hunger. The tens of millions forced to flee their homes because of disaster and conflict. The children who die from diseases we know how to cure. The women and girls who are brutalized by sexual violence. We need to tackle these problems at their root. But until we do, lives will hang in the balance. And the humanitarian community will be on the scene, rushing bravely towards danger, determined to help people in need." (Ki-moon, The Secretary-General's remarks to launch the First World Humanitarian Day, 2009)
3.2.1 Healing the Sick
Since its inception, The United Nations has been vigorously involved in promoting and protecting good health worldwide. World Health Organization (WHO), whose constitution came into force on 7 April 1948, is leading the effort within the UN system.
WHO has staff working on the worldwide in 147 countries. They advise ministries of health on technical issues and provide assistance on prevention, treatment and care services throughout the health sector. It also got involved in covering all areas of the global health-care spectrum, including crisis intervention and the response to humanitarian emergencies; establishing International Health Regulations, which countries must follow to identify disease outbreaks and stop them from spreading; preventing chronic diseases; and working to achieve the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Besides, UN goals 3 targets to achieve in the future, they are, ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being for all at all ages, increasing the life expectancy and reducing some of the common killers associated with child and maternal mortality, hoping to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030.
Last but not least, members of the UN system such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the World Bank, all are the related institutions to play a key role in promoting global health.
3.2.2 Helping Refugees
The Secretary-General and his representatives take the responsibility to negotiate “zones of peace” for the delivery of humanitarian aid when men, women and children that are trapped in the m
idst of war while UN peacekeepers protect the delivery of that aid which is either provided by members of the UN system or humanitarian bodies such as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Besides, they also provide the refugees with basic necessities such as food, water and sanitation.
The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) brings all major humanitarian agencies together, through its “cluster approach”. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is the lead agency with respect to the protection of refugees and the internally displaced. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is the lead agency for camp coordination and management and it shares the lead with respect to emergency shelter with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Other than that, the other UN bodies actively involved in this cluster approach include the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA); the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
3.2.3 Helping Children
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), cooperates with the International Save the Children External Link Alliance to provide education for children who have been uprooted by calamity. Besides, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is also to make sure that the recovery process has a firm and stable footing.
UNICEF’s work is guided by the landmark Convention on the Rights of the Child. From United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s focus on education, to the International Labor Organization (ILO)’s efforts to abolish child labor, to the special representative on the plight of children in war and the relief provided by the World Food Program (WFP) to disease-eradication campaigns by the (WHO). Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health mobilizes resources to save the lives of more than 16 million women and children.
In September 2010, in the lead-up to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit, the Secretary-General launched a global effort convening 40 key leaders to define a collective strategy for accelerating progress on women's and children's health.
The UN strives to protect children from violence, and special human rights rapporteurs work to prevent their exploitation through trafficking, prostitution and pornography. Children’s needs and rights are addressed in the Millennium Development Goals, and in the plans emerging from major UN conferences.
The UN system is also there for children in specific parts of the world, from the special representative for West Africa, to the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The needs of children in particular subgroups of society, migrant workers, indigenous peoples and the disabled are protected through various UN-sponsored legal instruments, as well as by the efforts on the ground and coordination with the Non-Government Organization (NGO) community.
3.2.4 Feeding the Hungry
The climate and weather change and the lack of investment in agriculture affect the food stocks to become depleted. For example, in 2005, food production was tremendously affected by extreme weather incidents in major food-producing countries. By 2006, world cereal production had fallen by 2.1 percent. With these reasons, the World Bank Group's New Deal on Global Food Policy addresses the short, medium and long term safety nets such as school feeding, food for work and conditional cash transfers. This increased agricultural production, understanding of the impact of biofuels, and a reduction in distorting trade subsidies and barriers. Its $1.2 billion rapid financing facility, the Global Food Response Program, speeds assistance to the neediest countries.
Besides, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, introduced the Zero Hunger Challenge in 2012 that is his personal vision of a world without hunger and a global call to action to achieve zero hunger which requires comprehensive efforts to ensure that every man, woman and child enjoy their Right to Adequate Food; women are empowered; priority is given to family farming; and food systems everywhere are sustainable and resilient. This vision can be achieved by tackling food insecurity and malnutrition while promoting sustainable agriculture and food systems.
Furthermore, World Food Program (WFP) pursues a goal that every person has all times access to the food needed for an active and healthy life. They work towards that vision with UN agencies in Rome, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). On average, WFP reaches more than 80 million people with food assistance in 75 countries each year with about 11,500 people working for the organization in remote areas, directly serving the hungry poor.
With all the efforts that UN has done, hope that the hunger problems will come to an end and food can be accessed by everyone, food security can be achieved and nutrition improved for everyone especially children, adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons and promote sustainable agriculture that increase productivity and production of food.
4 The Job Aspects of a General Secretary in United Nations
The article discussed the responsibilities of the Secretary-General of the UN. From the outset, the position of UN Secretary-General has been a significant part of the UN, not only as its chief executive, but also as symbol that representing the whole organization. Under Article 99 of the UN Charter, the Secretary-General is also authorized by the Charter to bring any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security of the Security Council. (URQUHART, B, 1995)
The Charter recognizes the Secretary-General as "chief administrative officer" of the Organization, who shall act in that capacity and perform functions that are entrusted to him or her by the Security Council, General Assembly, Economic and Social Council and other UN organs. These guidelines both define the powers of the office and grant it considerable scope for action. The Secretary-General would fail if he did not take careful account of the concerns of Member States and 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. (Milus, 2015)
Job aspects of the Secretary-General includes managing a world-wide secretariat and a global organization on a shoestring budget, implementing the decisions of the Security Council and other organs of the United Nations, attending the sessions of UN bodies, consultations with representatives from different countries, worldwide travel with intention to keep in touch with the people of the Organization's Member States to inform about the vast array of issues of international concern that are on the Organization's agenda and running peacekeeping and other highly sensitive field operations..
The Secretary-General is also the Chairman of the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB), which gather the Executive Heads of all UN funds, programs and specialized agencies twice a year in order to further coordination and cooperation in the entire range of substantive and management issues. Besides, he or she will also prepare a report on the work of the UN that appraises its activities and outlines future priorities every year. However, one of the most important roles played by the Secretary-General is the use of his "good offices", that is the steps taken public
ly and in private, drawing upon his independence, impartiality and integrity, to prevent international disputes from arising, escalating or spreading.
5 The Qualities and Discipline of a Secretary-General in view of the Practices and Achievements of the Successive Secretary-Generals.
A Secretary-General should be brave enough to bear the responsibility to serve the people and fight for their rights. He or she should be a person who is willing to sacrifice to serve the people well as they will not be too unwilling to spend more time on their work. Of course they have their responsibility to the family, but with good management skill to balance between work and family, and the will to hold another responsibility could make them a really good international public servant. Before becoming the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan is willing to take up the responsibility to try different tasks given to him. By doing so, he accumulated knowledge from different positions he was in. Through that, he could understand the job scope and working environment of each department which made him a better and understanding leader.
During his office, as the seventh UN Secretary-General, he prioritized on the reforms program targeted at revitalizing the UN and worked to further strengthen the areas of development focused by UN especially in pretending the human rights such as gender equality, education, hunger and children’s welfare. For example, in 1998, he appointed a lady, Louise Frechette of Canada, as the first deputy secretary-general in an attempt to bring about more gender equality within the UN system. He had a major part to play in the establishment of two new intergovernmental bodies that are The Peacebuilding Commission and the Human Rights Council in 2005. He also played a pivotal role in the creation of the Global Funds to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and strongly opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq and Iran's nuclear program. After his retirement from the UN in 2006, he returned to Ghana and involved himself with a number of African as well as global organizations. He is a really a role model for the future leaders, as he is very willing to take up his responsibilities as a Secretary-General to carry out his job and bring impacts to the UN.
Furthermore, a Secretary-General must be visionary to think ahead of time and possess self-confidence to make a decision. They should not focus only on the matter in front of their eyes but also preview and prepare for the upcoming challenges before the problems become a thorn in the flesh. With visions, they can lead the organization to perform well to achieve higher level of achievements. And with visions, there are developments from the current level, not staying in the current comfort-zone.
Other than that, a Secretary- General should possess communication skill, language ability, be open-minded and life-long learning skill. They must know how to communicate well as they will have to represent the people to voice out their needs. They also need to face the leaders from the other organizations or countries to discuss and negotiate on something. Thus, they should be able to convey the message clearly in order to avoid miscommunication that could bring serious problem such as a war between countries. They should also learn multi-languages so that they could have a close talk with the different people. At the same time, the communication will be easier if they do not have to rely too much on the translators. From that, they can learn about the culture of a certain country to understand the way the people think and get to know their needs. Besides, they should be open-minded to accept critics or comments from others to improve themselves. The difference in culture and the difference in thinking from their own background should not be the obstacles for them to work with people. They should keep on improving themselves and accumulate knowledge on the information technology as the world is now borderless with the development of internet. Last but not least, a Secretary-General should also improve their qualification on management. This will improve their professionalism in managing the organization.
Conclusion
Second World War had brought a lot of traumas and effects to the people. It killed many people, destroyed many homes and broke everyone’s heart. However, from this tragedy, born the United Nations that plays a vital role in protecting and defending the peace and security, human rights of people, disarmament, terrorism, climate change, sustainable development, humanitarian and health emergencies, gender equality, governance, food production and other important issues.
With the appointments of Secretary-General, UN relies on their abilities to help them in achieving the goals and visions. Courageous, determination to sacrifice, responsible, good management skill, visionary, good communication skill, language ability, open-minded, life-long learning skill and so forth are the qualities and discipline of a Secretary-General should have in order to complete the missions of UN.
The challenges that UN is facing today are the problems that every one of us is facing also. Education for all the children, commission on the status of women, refugees, health issues, children rights and hungry issues are the thorn in our flesh that we need to remove so that everyone in this world can lead a happy life. Secretary-General manages all the challenges that UN faces, with many different approaches. For example, the eighth Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon introduced the UN Children’s Fund to make sure all the children in this world is provided with the basic needs including an opportunity to receive education.
Even though the journey to achieve all the goals of UN is still a long way to go, but I believe that if all the institutions including governments, non-government organizations and individuals can cooperate together with UN, the sad news such as “3-Year-Old Boy Washed Up on a Turkish Beach” (Moyer, 2015) (the refugee problems) will not be happened again.