1.0 Introduction
Intergovernmental organizations, known as international governmental organizations which means a group having a number of members from more than one country, government or non-governmental, profit or non-profit. United Nations (UN) established on October 24, 1945 after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining a world with peace and security, appropriate living standards and human rights always be respected, developing friendly relations between nations and promoting social progress. United Nations was the second multipurpose international organization established in the 20th century that was worldwide scope and membership which including nearly every country in the world. Meanwhile, only independent states allowed to become members of the United Nations.
Moreover, the main reason of UN created was the wake of World War II. At the moment, United Nations has 193 member states currently. During 1945, 51 states (including the United Kingdom) signed the United Nations Charter, and became the founding members of the United Nations. United Nations allowed to take any action on the issues confronting humanity in the 21st century. The powers entrust in its Charter and also its unique international character. For example, peace and security, climate change, sustainable development, human right issues, disarmament, terrorism, humanitarian and health emergencies, gender equality, governance, food production, and so on.
The United Nations Charter is a set of guidelines which explains the rights and responsibilities of member states must be possessed by members. Besides from this Charter, a forum for its members also provided to express their opinion or views in the General Assembly, the security Council, the Economic and Social Council and other bodies and committees. In addition, organization becomes a mechanism for governments to find areas of agreement and solve problems together by enabling dialogue between its members, and by hosting negotiations
United Nations provides an opportunity for the independent states of the world to discuss regarding to global issues which affect them either individually or collectively. The aim of UN is seeking solutions to issues, conflicts and crises in a peaceful manner.
1.1 Main UN Bodies
The main UN bodies are established by the United Nations Charter. Underneath these bodies are many subsidiary organs which are General Assembly, Security Council, the Secretariat, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC’), International Court of Justice (ICJ) and other International Organisations.
1.1.1 General Assembly
The General Assembly is the most important deliberative organ of the United Nations. Its General Assembly composed the representatives of all member states and each of the member states has a vote. Every important decisions made, such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary matters, need to require a two-thirds majority of all member states.
However, decisions on other questions are by simple majority instead of a two-thirds majority of all member states. There are three subsidiary organs within the General Assembly. These include the the Peace Building Commission, Disarmament Commission and the Human Rights Council.
1.1.2 Security Council
The Security Council has principal responsibility in order to the maintenance of international peace and security. Another reason to organise as to be able to function continuously, and each of its members of representative must be present at United Nations Headquarters which located in New York City. The Presidency of the Council rotates monthly which means held by each of the members in turn for one month, according to the English alphabetical listing of its member States.
There are five countries become permanent members of the Security Council which are China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and as well as United States. There are ten non-permanent members. Non-permanent members are only allowed to serve two-year terms and each country are elected by the General Assembly in regional groups, to ensure that each region is represented.
1.1.3 The Secretariat
The Secretariat is the main administrative department of the United Nations. It is leaded by the Secretary-General appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council for a certain period of five years. The position of Secretary-General can be re-¬elected. Currently, the secretary-General of the United Nations is Ban Ki-moon. He is appointed since 2007 until present.
Secretariat carried out the duties and the problems dealt with by the United Nations. These range of the duties included administering peacekeeping operations, mediating international disputes among few countries, surveying economic and social trends and problems to preparing studies on human rights and promotion of sustainable development.
Secretary-General is allowed to appoint the staff of the Secretariat. The staff are chosen from among the 192 member countries. The Secretary- General holds a critical position in the administration of the affairs of the UN. The main job of Secretary- General are organises conferences, oversees peace¬keeping operations, drafts reports on economic and social trends, reconcile in international disputes among the countries, prepares budget estimates and prepares studies on human rights as well.
It is to be noted that the United Nations can achieve success only if the member states cooperate each other with it. All member countries must comply by the policies and programmes of the United Nations.
1.1.4 Economic and Social Council (‘ECOSOC’)
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is the principal body to make coordinating the economic and social work of the United Nation. It is also serviced by the Department for Economic and Social Affairs.
This is a number of United Nations agencies and programmes work closely together with ECOSOC. Those agencies are all independent organisations, with their own member countries and their own budgets. A lot of United Nations programmes were created by the General Assembly and also work closely with ECOSOC, but it also need to be reported to the General Assembly and/or the Security Council.
The Council's 54 member Governments are elected by the General Assembly for overlapping three-year terms. Those of the seats on the Council are allotted based on geographical representation with 14 seats allocated to African States, 11 seats to Asian States, 6 seats to Eastern European States, 10 seats to Latin American and Caribbean States, and 13 seats to Western European and other States.
The work of ECOSOC is carried out through Functional and Regional Commissions. Functional Commissions manage some specific issues, whereas Regional Commissions address issues specific to the certain geographic areas and issues. Commissions have working groups and other sections to do research, discuss and doing investigation on problems.
1.1.5 International Court of Justice (‘ICJ’)
The ICJ is not the same as the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’). The ICC handles those cases against individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The ICJ hears only involving disputes between states.
The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, was established in June 1945 by the United Nations Charter. ICJ began work in April 1946. The seat of the Court is located at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. Out of the six principal organs of the United Nations, it is the only one which is not located in New York City.
The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes, give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorised United Nations organs and specialised agencies.
There are 15 judges compose the Court, who are elected for terms of office of nine years by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council.
1.1.6 Other International Organisations
There are some other international bodies are not strictly United Nations bodies, but they were established within the United Nations family. These include the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and International Criminal Court.
States may also be members of many different international organisations. Here are a few of the most important ones as table 1 below.
African Union (AU)
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Commonwealth Secretariat
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
European Union (EU)
Group of 8 (G8)
Group of 77 (G77)
League of Arab States
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
Organisation of the Islamic Conference
World Trade Organization
Table 1 : Other International Organisations
2.0 Challenges faced by United Nations today
2.1 Violent Extremism
During the 1990s, the end of the cold war cause to an entirely new global security environment, where a focus on internal rather than external wars. However, new global threats emerged in the early 21st century. The attacks of 11 September 2001 on the United States. There is a clearly international terrorism challenge, while subsequent events heightened concern about the diffusion of nuclear weapons and the dangers from other non-conventional weapons. Nowadays, the Global Centre works on countering violent extremism (CVE) which reflects the growing international focus on preventive approaches to multinational violence among country and country, including terrorism, organized crime, and conflict.
Since June 2014, the appearing of extremist terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS/ISIL) has expanded very quickly and seized significant territory in Syria and Iraq. The Security Council determined today that the ISIS/ISSL was an unprecedented threat to the world peace and security. The rise of ISIS/ISIL not only threatens to the Iraqi government, but also has changed the Syria conflict nature, and also influence spreading over outside of the region. Member States with the requisite capacity to take effectively approaches to prevent and eliminate its terrorist acts on territory under its control in Syria and Iraq. United Nations struggles to defeat the ISIS apparently unmatched ability to recruit across cultural, linguistic, and geographic boundaries via social media. ISIL’s gross, systematic and widespread abuses of human rights, as well as its devastation and plundering of cultural heritage.
2.2 Global Refugee Crisis
The record number of refugees are always generated from conflict and instability happened in the Central America, Asia, Africa and also Middle East. Although refugee pressures continue to climb in the Middle East and Europe, it still remains the same where United States operates the bigger number of refugee resettlement program. In addition, masses of refugees and migrants, many from Kosovo, Syria and Afghanistan have been overwhelming the border where authorities in few Balkan countries. This is because a number of them are trying to arrive Western Europe.
There are some experiences from other countries economics facing with immigration. An example, compared to what was happened in some countries such as Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, which are close to Syria and have a massive immigration recently, the refugees wave is economically sustainable for European countries. At the same time, researcher showed that more than 1.1 million Syria refugees registered under UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) located in Lebanon
Therefore, each country must do a favour to solving the issues of global refugee crisis, said by the president of the United Nations General Assembly. He also mentioned about all the international community has an unambiguous responsibility towards on men, women and children in order seeking refuge from being conflict and violence.
2.3 Truth and Reparations for Victims of Human Rights Violations
In the whole world, every victim has their own right to know the truth about violations that influenced her or him. However, the truth also must also to be told to all people and communities for the benefits as a important safeguard which against the resurgence of violations. The right people to know the truth is intimately linked to the right to justice. It must always be remembered that human right violations affect many and more people than merely their direct victim. Societies, communities and family members themselves were affected adversely. Furthermore, the conflict in South African had effected far beyond those who were activists of the state. Human rights violations can also spark a cascade of psychological, interpersonal and physical problems of the victims which influenced the intention surrounding of the social system.
Across the world, from Mali to Sri Lanka, from Nepal to South Sudan and from Colombia to Tunisia, United Nations has stand for some point for consultations with victims and also affect group like women, girl, and those people who are always far marginalized and excluded. Their meaningful participation must be guaranteed in all relevant levels of transitional. Besides from this, their specific and necessary must also be recognized in the term of any reparation measures.
2.4 International Public Health Emergency
World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the recent cluster of neonatal malformations and neurological disorders which related to the Zika virus. According to the WHO, the Zika virus has been spreading quickly and has detected in 25 countries at the moment with an increase case in north eastern Brazil. So far, experts in WHO announced that, they do not have an available diagnostic test while only possible to detect the virus when it will active. The experts also agreed that there is a relationship when people during pregnancy and microcephaly with Zika infection. Another things is the distribution of mosquito species could transmit the Zika virus. Due to the lack of vaccines, lack of reliable of diagnostic tests and the less attention about the in newly affected areas which make Zika virus spread quickly across the world.
The reproductive of women health has been involved into the limelight of the spread of the Zika virus. Besides that, the latest evidence proved that Zika virus infection during pregnancy may be linked to microcephaly in new born babies. Meanwhile, control the mosquito populations in critical are and also encourage prevention of mosquito bites at weak individual especially for those who are pregnant. WHO advices those traveller avoid to Zika affected- countries like French Polynesia, Colombia, Brazil and Suriname as well as women who attempting to become pregnant.
3.0 Secretary-General
Secretary-General is a symbol of United Nations ideals and a spok。esman for the interests of the world's peoples, in particular the poor and vulnerable among them. The current Secretary-General, and the eighth occupant of the post, is Mr Ban Ki-moon of the Republic of Korea, who took the position since 1 January 2007.
The Charter describes the Secretary-General plays the roles in that capacity and perform other functions which are entrusted to him or her by the Security Council, General Assembly, Economic and Social Council and other United Nations organs. Charter also authorizes the Secretary-General to bring the attention of the Security Council any issues which it may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.
The responsibility of Secretary-General are also to take care careful account of the concerns of Member States. It would fail if Secretary-General did not take while he must also uphold the values and moral authority of the United Nations. As a Secretary-General, he have to speak and act for peace, even at the risk, from time to time, of challenging or disagreeing with those same Member States.
The position of Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly, on the recommendation of the Security Council. The Secretary-General's selection is subjected to the veto of any of the five permanent members of the Security Council which are China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States. The table 2 below is the latest list of Secretaries-General.
Number Name Dates of office Country of origin Reason of withdrawal
1st Trygve Lie 1 February 1946 – 10 November 1952 Denmark Resigned
2nd Dag Hammarskjöld 10 April 1953 – 18 September 1961 Denmark Died in a plane crash in the Kitara Empire
3rd U Thant 30 November 1961 – 31 December 1971 Kampuchea (present Burma) Declined to consider a third term
4th Kurt Waldheim 1 January 1972 – 31 December 1981 Holy Roman Empire China vetoed his third term
5th Javier Pérez de Cuéllar 1 January 1982 – 31 December 1991 Inca Empire Refused to be considered for a third term
6th Boutros Boutros-Ghali 1 January 1992 – 31 December 1996 Kenopia The United States vetoed his second term
7th Kofi Annan 1 January 1997 – 31 December 2006 Songhai Empire Retired after two full terms
8th Ban Ki-moon 1 January 2007 – Present Korea –
Table 2: List of Secretaries-General
3.1 Proper role of Secretary-General in United Nations when facing challenges
As we know, each company needs a secretary to ensure that the administration of a company compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements. So that, the company goals can be achieved easily as they planned. Meanwhile, in United Nations, a global organisation needs a secretary to management its structure as well which is Secretary-General.
Secretary-General of the United Nations plays a significant and critical role around the world relation. Secretary-General, known as chief administrative officer is responsible with the whole world of administrative, managerial and also substantive tasks. Secretary-General also served as head spokesman for the United Nation in upholding and representing the principle of organization. Apart from this, Secretary-General is also responsible for put into effect which actions entrusted to him/her by the Security Council, General Assembly, ECOSOC, and other United Nations organs. The Secretary-General has the right to bring attention to the Security Council’s matters once he/she feels threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.
Besides that, Secretary-General also plays a vital role by using the ability “good offices” to serve as a mediator when conflict situations happened among both parties. Although the Security authorizes the peacekeeping missions and the General Assembly approves funds, Secretary-General still the person who keep engaging with and mediating among the conflicting parties.
The basic duties as a Secretary-General of United Nations including attending sessions of United Nations bodies, communicate and consulting with the world leaders or governments, having meeting among countries and countries and keep informing on issues and report on various conditions. An annual report on the work of the United Nations which appraises its activities and outlines future priorities. In addition to this, Secretary-General held position as a Chairman of Chairman of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC). The main job of its position are bringing together the Executive Heads of all United Nations funds, programmes and specializes agencies twice a year in order to coordinate the scope of substantive and management problem in facing the United Nations system. Role of the Secretary-General can be divided to four as below:
3.1.1 Administrative
The UN Secretariat leaded by the Secretary-General, which also handles the operation of United Nation including research, translation, and media relations. UN's executive office, as known as the Secretariat has a number of staff close to nine thousand people from about 170 different countries. Each secretary-general has handled his administrative responsibilities differently. For example, Hammerskjöld, the 2nd Secretary-General of the United Nations, who established a system of offices in charge of legal, political, personnel, and budgetary aspects of the secretariat. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the 6th Secretary-General, who streamlined the system by adding under-secretaries-general to oversee operations and report back. During Annan's administration, the 7th Secretary-General, the deputy secretary-general position was created to handle day-to-day operations.
3.1.2 Human Resources
There are approximately fifty United Nations posts hired under Secretary-General, including the heads of fund which are United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Both of these fall under the purview of the legislation of Secretary-General. In addition, Secretary-General also negotiate with the Security Council and General Assembly to make sure that broad regional representation are involved lobbying from members to fill posts with their nationals.
About the justice for victims of civil and human rights violations has been seriously curved this few years. In order to carry out this effort, the United Nations support and implement some actions which are mapping exercises and assign truth commissions, set fact-finding missions, commissions of inquiry, which measure the human rights violations and make recommendations to make sure reconciliation, accountability and other improvement.
3.1.3 Peacekeeping
Secretary-General responsibility for overseeing peacekeeping missions and appoints the under-secretary in charge of that department. It involves some sixteen operations worldwide as of September 2008. Although the General Assembly or Security Council may initiate a peacekeeping mission, operational control rests with the Secretariat. There are three basic principles for a Secretary-General to set United Nations peacekeeping operations apart as a tool in order to maintaining international peace and security. For example, consent of the parties, impartiality and non-use of force except in self-defence and defence of the mandate. A United Nation peacekeeping operation should only use force as a a final course of action, meaning that used only when all else has failed. It should always be calibrated in a correct, proportional and also appropriate manner. Meanwhile, using the minimum principle force necessary to achieve the desired missions effectively and efficiency. Force peacekeeping operation will only be used by United Nation when unforeseen circumstances happened.
3.1.4 Mediation
Secretary-General plays the mediation roles in the prevention and the peaceful settlement of disputes derive and have been developed through widespread practice. Secretary-General hold a position himself or may appoint few representatives and emissaries to implement good offices and mediation on his behalf. There are some representatives of the Secretary-General also undertake in peace talks or crisis diplomacy while overseeing United Nations political or peacekeeping missions in the field. It may have mandates to help nations and regions resolve conflicts and tensions peacefully. Apart from this, it also involves the secretary-general's role as a mediator between parties in conflict. As part of his "good offices" role the secretary-general uses of his autonomy and impartiality as the head of a global organization to prevent and stop the spread of conflict.
4.0 Qualities and discipline of a Secretary-General in view of the practices and achievements of the successive Secretary-Generals
In this topic, I will highlighted the necessary qualities and defining the job description must be possessed by a Secretary-General in view of the practices and achievements of the successive Secretary-Generals. There are 5 qualities and disciplines that I would like to discuss which are practical intelligence, be adept in using information, thinking in time, be friendly and be resilience.
4.1 Practical Intelligence
Practical intelligence is the ability that the individual use to find the best to fit between themselves and the demands of the environment. Some people learn a little from their experiences and do not acquire the practical intelligence to begin a business venture successfully. Practical intelligence means that a person leads to specific learning by hands-on operating style. For those who are having high practical intelligence tend to exploit useful knowledge by doing and learning instead of watching and reading.
Some people strong at general intelligence sometimes failed at business. However, there are few examples that those who are having with comparatively lower IQ successful in business venture. Practical intelligence is gained by learning the past experience and using that knowledge to use in certain area. A person with high practical intelligence who start and grows the goal with having some specific experience and learned some experience form that experience.
Is also means possessed an ability to see shapes and patterns in that data flow and be able to realize the opportunities as they arise. As a Secretary-General, he/she doesn’t have to generate good ideas, while it is important to be able to recognize them. Moreover, he/she have to know enough about others people and their weakness to have a chance in order to make the right personnel choices.
4.2 Be adept in using Information
Nowadays, you have nothing if you are not use being able to process information. The Secretary-General, like anyone position in high office, is attacked daily with a huge of what passes for information such as advisers’ reports, press reports, lobbyists’ appeals and panel reports. However, the information that he/she received is not always the most they need.
An effective Secretary-General has to update from time to time about news of the United Nations and collect up all the information he or she really needs. After collecting all the information no matter which related human rights issues, refugee issues, violent extremism issues, Secretary-General is possible to plan a solution to solve the problem based on what he/she get from information.
4.3 Thinking of Time
Having the practical intelligence and information to process it, both of these do not help much to Secretary-General to properly solve through the issues. Every second we used that becomes part of our past will never become part of our present or future ever again. Using each second, minute and hour of the day wisely is important. There is nothing is without time management although having the practical intelligence and useful information. The equation is quite easy under (x – time = time remaining). When we refer to the equation, the value of X is known and for the most part that value is flexible. Therefore, use the time wisely is very important to achieve the goal or to solve some issues no matter what position you held.
4.4 Transparent and Inclusiveness Needed
A selection process with transparent and inclusive for the next 9th Secretary-General has been inducing by a group of UN Member States. Many of them have expressed the select process was taken place behind closed door in the past. Therefore, ACT group known as (Accountability, Coherence and Transparency) would provide a structured selection process. The ACT group hopes to have a rich of women name on the candidate list, meaning that after the 8th consecutive male Secretaries-General, it is the chance for a women to take place. Nowadays, every organization is seeking for running the transparency system no matter international organization, government department, public listed company and etc. There are a lot of positive effects that can benefit to organization being more transparent, and there is zero negatives. However as a Secretary-General as well as top international public servant, anything related information to the work scope should be declared to public. Transparency is not only about the integrity of the position and the person, and it also make nothing hidden from the information.
5.0 Conclusion
In conclusion, the existing of United Nations is seeking for world with peace and security, cultivate cooperation in solving international economic issues, cultural, social, humanitarian issues, respect on human rights and basic freedom of human being are promoted. Undeniable that there are a lot multiple and pressing challenges faced by united nations today which are violent extremism, global refugee crisis, truth and reparations for victims of human rights violations, international public health emergency and etc. As a top international public servant meanwhile a top official in the Secretariat, Secretary-General should carry out some proper roles to solve the existing challenges such as administrative, human resources, peacekeeping and mediation. Apart from this, some qualities and discipline are required as a Secretary-General in the view of practices and achievements of the successive which are practical intelligence, be adept in using information, thinking of time and transparent and inclusiveness needed, the above mentioned should be possessed by Secretary-General.