Secretary-General of the United Nations
Emblem of the United Nations
Incumbent Ban Ki-moon since 1 January 2007
Residence	Sutton Place, Manhattan, New York City, USA
Term length	Five years, renewable indefinitely
Inaugural holder	Gladwyn Jebb 24 October 1945 (Acting) Trygve Lie 1 February 1946
Formation	United Nations Charter, 26 June 1945
Website	UN Secretary-General webpage

The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the Secretariat of the United Nations, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations.

The current Secretary-General is Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, who took office on 1 January 2007. His first term expired on 31 December 2011. He was re-elected, unopposed, to a second term on 21 June 2011.^[1]

Role [link]

The Secretary-General was envisioned by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a "world moderator," but the vague definition provided by the UN Charter left much room for interpretation by those who would later inhabit the position. According to the U.N. website his roles are further defined as "diplomat and advocate, civil servant and CEO."^[2] Nevertheless, this more abstract description has not prevented the office holders from speaking out and playing important roles on global issues to various degrees. Article 97 of the UN Charter states that the Secretary-General shall be the "chief administrative officer" of the Organization, but does not dictate his specific obligations.

Responsibilities of the Secretary-General are further outlined in Articles 98-100, which states that he shall act as the officer in "in all meetings of the General Assembly, of the Security Council, of the Economic and Social Council and the Trusteeship Council, and shall perform other functions as are entrusted to him by these organs." He is responsible for making an annual report to the General Assembly as well as notifying the Security Council on matters which "in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security." (Article 99) Other than these few guidelines, little else is dictated by the Charter. Interpretation of the Charter has varied between Secretaries-General, with some being much more active than others.

The Secretary-General is highly dependent upon the support of the member states of the U.N.. "The Secretary-General would fail if he did not take careful account of the concerns of Member States, but 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."^[3]

"The personal skills of the Secretary-General and his staff are crucial to their function. The central position of the UN headquarters in the international diplomatic network is also an important asset. The Secretary-General has the right to place any dispute on the provisional agenda of the Security Council. However, he works mostly behind the scenes if the members of the council are unwilling to discuss a dispute. Most of his time is spent on good offices missions and mediation, sometimes at the request of deliberative organs of the UN, but also frequently on his own initiative. His function may be frustrated, replaced or supplemented by mediation efforts by the major powers. UN peace-keeping missions are often closely linked to mediation (peace-making). The recent improvement in relations between the permanent members of the Security Council has strengthened the role of the Secretary-General as the world's most reputable intermediary."

Residence [link]

The official residence of the Secretary-General is a five-story townhouse in Sutton Place, Manhattan, in New York City, United States. The townhouse was built for Anne Morgan in 1921, and donated to the United Nations in 1972.^[4]

Term and selection [link]

Dag Hammarskjöld was a particularly active UN Secretary-General from 1953 until his death in 1961. Hammarskjöld acted as a mediator during the Suez Crisis and the 1960 capture of a US reconnaissance plane by the USSR. He also established the first UN peacekeeping force that had been proposed by Canadian Minister of External Affairs, Lester B. Pearson.

Secretaries-General serve for five-year terms that can be renewed indefinitely, although none so far has held office for more than two terms.^[5] The United Nations Charter provides for the Secretary-General to be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. As a result, the selection is subject to the veto of any of the five permanent Members of the Security Council. While the appointment and approval process of the Secretary-General is outlined in the UN Charter, specific guidelines have emerged regarding the term limits and selection process. These include a limit to two five year terms, regional (continental) rotation of the appointee’s national origin, and the appointee may not be any citizen of the Security Council’s five permanent members.

The United Nations Charter mentions the Secretary-General in chapter 15 of in articles 97-101. Article 97 gives the General Assembly the task of appointing the Secretary General. However, the candidate must be proposed by the Security Council. This implies that any Permanent Member of the Security Council could wield its veto in opposition of the recommendation. Most Secretaries-General are compromise-candidates from middle powers and have little prior fame. Despite the Charter giving the General Assembly provisions to influence the selection process, the chosen Secretaries-General reflect that the selection process remains in the control of the P5.

The Secretary-General is also the chief administrative officer of the United Nations (UN). Article 98 further states that the Secretary-General is further tasked with supervising the operations of the Security Council, General Assembly, and the Economic and Social Council and is to “perform other such functions as are entrusted to him by these organizations� In short, this gives him or her the further responsibility of presiding over the meetings of these organs of the UN. Also contained in Article 98 is the responsibility of the Secretary-General to compile annual reports concerning the UN’s progress, to be presented to the General Assembly (GA).

The Secretary-General has the power to alert the GA and the Security Council of any event he or she sees as a security issue for the international system (according to article 99). The Secretary-General, along with the Secretariat, is given the prerogative to exhibit no allegiance to any state but to only the United Nations organization: decisions must be made without regard to the state of origin.

In the early 1960s, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev led an effort to abolish the Secretary-General position. The numerical superiority of the Western powers combined with the one state, one vote system meant that the Secretary-General would come from one of them, and would potentially be sympathetic towards the West. Khrushchev advanced a proposal to replace the Secretary-General with a three-person leading council (a "troika"): one member from the West, one from the Communist states, and one from the Non-Aligned powers. This idea failed because the neutral powers failed to back the Soviet proposal.^[6][7]

Secretaries-General[link]

Note: Alger Hiss was Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, held in April to June 1945.

#	Portrait	Secretary-General	Dates in office	Country of origin	UN Regional Group	Reason of withdrawal	Ref.
–		Gladwyn Jebb	24 October 1945 – 1 February 1946	United Kingdom	Western European & Others	Served as Acting Secretary-General until Lie's election	[8]
		After World War II, he served as Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations in August 1945, being appointed Acting United Nations Secretary-General from October 1945 to February 1946 until the appointment of the first Secretary-General Trygve Lie.
1		Trygve Lie	1 February 1946 – 10 November 1952	Norway	Western European & Others	Resigned	[9]
		Lie, a foreign minister and former labour leader, was recommended by the Soviet Union to fill the post. After the UN involvement in the Korean War, the Soviet Union vetoed Lie's reappointment in 1951. The US circumvented the Soviet Union's veto and recommended reappointment directly to the General Assembly. Lie was reappointed by a vote of forty-six to five, with eight abstentions. The Soviet Union remained hostile to Lie, and he resigned in 1952.[10]
2		Dag Hammarskjöld	10 April 1953 – 18 September 1961	Sweden	Western European & Others	Died in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), while on a peacekeeping mission to the Congo	[11]
		After a series of candidates were vetoed, Hammarskjöld emerged as an option that was acceptable to the Security Council. Hammarskjöld was re-elected unanimously to a second term in 1957. The Soviet Union was angered by Hammarskjöld's leadership of the UN during the Congo Crisis, and suggested that the position of Secretary-General be replaced by a troika, or three-man executive. Facing great opposition from the Western nations, the Soviet Union gave up on its suggestion. Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1961.[10] US President John F. Kennedy called Hammarskjöld "the greatest statesman of our century."[12]
3		U Thant	30 November 1961 – 31 December 1971	Burma	Asian	Declined to consider a third term.	[13]
		In the process of replacing Hammarskjöld, the developing world insisted on a non-European and non-American. U Thant was nominated. However, due to opposition from the French (Thant had chaired a committee on Algerian independence) and the Arabs (Burma was supporting Israel), Thant was only appointed for the remainder of Hammarskjöld's term. Thant was the first Asian Secretary-General. The following year, Thant was unanimously re-elected to a full five-year term. He was similarly re-elected in 1966. Thant did not seek a third term.[10]
4		Kurt Waldheim	1 January 1972 – 31 December 1981	Austria	Western European & Others	China vetoed his third term.	[14]
		Waldheim launched a discreet but effective campaign to become the Secretary-General. Despite initial vetoes from China and the United Kingdom, in the third round Waldheim was selected to become the new Secretary-General. In 1976, China initially blocked Waldheim's re-election, but it relented on the second ballot. In 1981, Waldheim's re-election for a third term was blocked by China, which vetoed his selection through 15 rounds. In the mid 1980s, it was revealed that a post-World War II UN War Crimes Commission had labeled Waldheim as a suspected war criminal – based on his involvement with the Nazi German army. The files had been stored in the UN archive.[10]
5		Javier Pérez de Cuéllar	1 January 1982 – 31 December 1991	Peru	Latin American & Caribbean	Refused to be considered for a third term.	[15]
		Pérez de Cuéllar was selected after a five-week deadlock between the re-election of Waldheim and China's candidate, Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania. Pérez de Cuéllar, a Peruvian diplomat, was a compromise candidate, and the first Secretary-General from the Americas. He was re-elected unanimously in 1986.[10]
6		Boutros Boutros-Ghali	1 January 1992 – 31 December 1996	Egypt	African	The United States vetoed his second term.	[16]
		The 102 member Non-Aligned Movement insisted that the next Secretary-General come from Africa. With a majority in the General Assembly and the support of China, the Non-Aligned Movement had the votes necessary to block any unfavourable candidate. The Security Council conducted five anonymous straw polls – a first for the council. Boutros-Ghali emerged with 11 votes on the fifth round. In 1996 the US vetoed the re-appointment of Boutros-Ghali, claiming he had failed in implementing necessary reforms to the UN.[10]
7		Kofi Annan	1 January 1997 – 31 December 2006	Ghana	African	Retired after two full terms	[17]
		On 13 December 1996, the United Nations Security Council recommended Annan.[18][19] He was confirmed four days later by the vote of the General Assembly,[20] He started his second term as Secretary-General on 1 January 2002.
8		Ban Ki-moon	1 January 2007– present	South Korea	Asia-Pacific	Incumbent	[21]
		Ban became the second Asian to be selected as the Secretary-General. He was unanimously elected to a second term by the General Assembly on 21 June 2011. His second term began on 1 January 2012.[22] Prior to his selection, he was the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea from January 2004 to November 2006.

A map showing what nations have had a national serving as Secretary-General of the United Nations

See also[link]

• Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations
• Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
• United Nations Secretariat
• Mundialization
• World government

References[link]

External links[link]

• UN Secretary-General webpage
• How is the Secretary-General appointed?
• Global Policy Forum – UN Secretary-General
• Report on the process of appointing a new Secretary-General
• Who Will be the Next Secretary-General? (website on the 2006 campaigns)
• UNSGselection.org – a campaign for a more democratic selection process

v t e United Nations (UN) UN System Member states • Observers • General Assembly (President) • Security Council • Department of Economic and Social Affairs • Economic and Social Council • Secretariat (Secretary-General) • Trusteeship Council • International Court of Justice History League of Nations • Peacekeeping missions (history • timeline) • Enlargement Major[vague] offices New York (Headquarters) • Geneva (Office) • Nairobi (Office) • Vienna (Office) Programmes and agencies FAO • ICAO • ILO • IMO • IPCC • IAEA • UNIDO • ITU • UNAIDS • SCSL • UNCTAD • UNCITRAL • UNDG • UNDP • UNDPI • UNEP (OzonAction, UNEP/GRID-Arendal) • UNESCO • UNODC • UNFIP • UNFPA • OHCHR • UNHCR • UNHRC • UN-HABITAT • UNICEF • UNITAR • UNOSAT • UNRWA • UN Women • UNWTO • UPU • WFP • WHO • WMO Resolutions General Assembly • Security Council Elections 2011 UNSC • 2011 ICJ • 2012 UNGA President • 2012 UNSC Related topics Bretton Woods system • Charter • Delivering as One • Flag • Honor Flag • Global Compact • ICC • Laissez-Passer • OPCW • Treaty Series • UN Day • UDHR • MDGs • UN reform  Category •  Portal

United Nations الأمم المتحدة è?”å?ˆå›½ Organisation des Nations unies ОрганизациÑ? Объединённых Ð?аций Organización de las Naciones Unidas
Flag
Map showing the Member states of the United Nations This map does not represent the view of its members or the UN concerning the legal status of any country,[1] nor does it accurately reflect which areas' governments have UN representation.
Headquarters		International territory in New York City, New York USA
Official languages		Arabic Chinese English French Russian Spanish
Membership		193 member states
Leaders
-	Secretary-General	Ban Ki-moon
-	Deputy Secretary-General	Asha-Rose Migiro
-	General Assembly President	Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser
-	Security Council President	Susan Rice
Establishment
-	United Nations Charter signed	26 June 1945 (1945-06-26)
-	Entry into force of Charter	24 October 1945 (1945-10-24)
Website UN.org

The United Nations (abbreviated UN in English, and ONU in its other official languages), is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue. It contains multiple subsidiary organizations to carry out its missions.

There are 193 member states, including every internationally recognised sovereign state in the world but Vatican City. From its offices around the world, the UN and its specialized agencies decide on substantive and administrative issues in regular meetings held throughout the year. The organization has six principal organs: the General Assembly (the main deliberative assembly); the Security Council (for deciding certain resolutions for peace and security); the Economic and Social Council (for assisting in promoting international economic and social cooperation and development); the Secretariat (for providing studies, information, and facilities needed by the UN); the International Court of Justice (the primary judicial organ); and the United Nations Trusteeship Council (which is currently inactive). Other prominent UN System agencies include the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The UN's most prominent position is Secretary-General which has been held by Ban Ki-moon of South Korea since 2007.

The United Nations Headquarters resides in international territory in New York City, with further main offices at Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed from assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, and has six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.^[2]

History[link]

The League of Nations failed to prevent World War II (1939–1945). Because of the widespread recognition that humankind could not afford a third world war, the United Nations was established to replace the flawed League of Nations in 1945 in order to maintain international peace and promote cooperation in solving international economic, social and humanitarian problems. The earliest concrete plan for a new world organization was begun under the aegis of the U.S. State Department in 1939. Franklin D. Roosevelt first coined the term 'United Nations' as a term to describe the Allied countries. The term was first officially used on 1 January 1942, when 26 governments signed the Atlantic Charter, pledging to continue the war effort.^[3] On 25 April 1945, the UN Conference on International Organization began in San Francisco, attended by 50 governments and a number of non-governmental organizations involved in drafting the United Nations Charter. The UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945 upon ratification of the Charter by the five then-permanent members of the Security Council—France, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States—and by a majority of the other 46 signatories. The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, and the Security Council, took place in Westminster Central Hall in London in January 1946.^[4]

The organization was based at the Sperry Gyroscope Corporation's facility in Lake Success, New York, from 1946–1952, before moving to the United Nations Headquarters building in Manhattan upon its completion.

Since its creation, there has been controversy and criticism of the United Nations. In the United States, an early opponent of the UN was the John Birch Society, which began a "get US out of the UN" campaign in 1959, charging that the UN's aim was to establish a "One World Government." After the Second World War, the French Committee of National Liberation was late to be recognized by the US as the government of France, and so the country was initially excluded from the conferences that aimed at creating the new organization. Charles de Gaulle criticized the UN, famously calling it le machin ("the thing"), and was not convinced that a global security alliance would help maintain world peace, preferring direct defence treaties between countries.^[5]

Legal basis of establishment[link]

Shortly after its establishment the UN sought recognition as an international legal person due to the case of Reparations for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the United Nations^[6] with the advisory opinion delivered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The question arose whether the United Nations, as an organisation, had "the capacity to bring an international claim against a government regarding injuries that the organisation alleged had been caused by that state."^[7]

The Court stated: the Organization was intended to exercise and enjoy, and is in fact exercising and enjoying functions and rights, which can only be explained on the basis of the possession of a large measure of international personality and the capacity to operate upon an international plane ... Accordingly, the Court has come to the conclusion that the Organization is an international person. That is not the same thing as saying that it is a State, which it certainly is not, or that its legal personality and rights and duties are the same as those of a State ... What it does mean is that it is a subject of international law and capable of possessing international rights and duties, and that it has capacity to maintain its rights by bringing international claims.^[8]

Organization[link]

The United Nations' system is based on five principal organs (formerly six – the Trusteeship Council suspended operations in 1994, upon the independence of Palau, the last remaining UN trustee territory);^[9] the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Secretariat, and the International Court of Justice.

Four of the five principal organs are located at the main United Nations Headquarters located on international territory in New York City.^[10] The International Court of Justice is located in The Hague, while other major agencies are based in the UN offices at Geneva,^[11] Vienna,^[12] and Nairobi.^[13] Other UN institutions are located throughout the world.

The six official languages of the United Nations, used in intergovernmental meetings and documents, are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.^[2] The Secretariat uses two working languages, English and French. Four of the official languages are the national languages of the permanent members of the Security Council (the United Kingdom and the United States share English as a de facto official language); Spanish and Arabic are the languages of the two largest blocs of official languages outside of the permanent members (Spanish being official in 20 countries, Arabic in 26). Five of the official languages were chosen when the UN was founded; Arabic was added later in 1973. The United Nations Editorial Manual states that the standard for English language documents is British usage and Oxford spelling, the Chinese writing standard is Simplified Chinese. This replaced Traditional Chinese in 1971 when the UN representation of China was changed from the Republic of China to the People's Republic of China (see China and the United Nations for details).

General Assembly[link]

United Nations General Assembly hall

The General Assembly is the main deliberative assembly of the United Nations. Composed of all United Nations member states, the assembly meets in regular yearly sessions under a president elected from among the member states. Over a two-week period at the start of each session, all members have the opportunity to address the assembly. Traditionally, the Secretary-General makes the first statement, followed by the president of the assembly. The first session was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Westminster Central Hall in London and included representatives of 51 nations.

When the General Assembly votes on important questions, a two-thirds majority of those present and voting is required. Examples of important questions include: recommendations on peace and security; election of members to organs; admission, suspension, and expulsion of members; and, budgetary matters. All other questions are decided by majority vote. Each member country has one vote. Apart from approval of budgetary matters, resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace and security that are under Security Council consideration.

Conceivably, the one state, one vote power structure could enable states comprising just eight percent of the world population to pass a resolution by a two-thirds vote (see List of countries by population). However, as no more than recommendations, it is difficult to imagine a situation in which a recommendation by member states constituting just eight percent of the world's population, would be adhered to by the remaining ninety-two percent of the population, should they object.^{[citation needed]}

Security Council[link]

United Nations Security Council chamber

The Security Council is charged with maintaining peace and security among countries. While other organs of the United Nations can only make 'recommendations' to member governments, the Security Council has the power to make binding decisions that member governments have agreed to carry out, under the terms of Charter Article 25.^[14] The decisions of the Council are known as United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The Security Council is made up of 15 member states, consisting of 5 permanent members–China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States–and 10 non-permanent members, currently Azerbaijan, India, South Africa, Colombia, Morocco, Togo, Germany, Pakistan, Guatemala, and Portugal.^[15] The five permanent members hold veto power over substantive but not procedural resolutions allowing a permanent member to block adoption but not to block the debate of a resolution unacceptable to it. The ten temporary seats are held for two-year terms with member states voted in by the General Assembly on a regional basis. The presidency of the Security Council is rotated alphabetically each month.^[16]

Secretariat[link]

The United Nations Secretariat Building at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

The United Nations Secretariat is headed by the Secretary-General, assisted by a staff of international civil servants worldwide. It provides studies, information, and facilities needed by United Nations bodies for their meetings. It also carries out tasks as directed by the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the UN Economic and Social Council, and other UN bodies. The United Nations Charter provides that the staff be chosen by application of the "highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity," with due regard for the importance of recruiting on a wide geographical basis.

The Charter provides that the staff shall not seek or receive instructions from any authority other than the UN. Each UN member country is enjoined to respect the international character of the Secretariat and not seek to influence its staff. The Secretary-General alone is responsible for staff selection.

The Secretary-General's duties include helping resolve international disputes, administering peacekeeping operations, organizing international conferences, gathering information on the implementation of Security Council decisions, and consulting with member governments regarding various initiatives. Key Secretariat offices in this area include the Office of the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. The Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter that, in his or her opinion, may threaten international peace and security.^{[citation needed]}

Secretary-General[link]

The current Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon

The Secretariat is headed by the Secretary-General, who acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the UN. The current Secretary-General is Ban Ki-moon, who took over from Kofi Annan in 2007 and has been elected for a second term to conclude at the end of 2016.^[17]

Envisioned by Franklin D. Roosevelt as a "world moderator", the position is defined in the UN Charter as the organization's "chief administrative officer",^[18] but the Charter also states that the Secretary-General can bring to the Security Council's attention "any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security",^[19] giving the position greater scope for action on the world stage. The position has evolved into a dual role of an administrator of the UN organization, and a diplomat and mediator addressing disputes between member states and finding consensus to global issues.^[20]

The Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly, after being recommended by the Security Council, where the permanent members have veto power.^[21] The General Assembly can theoretically override the Security Council's recommendation if a majority vote is not achieved, although this has not happened so far.^[22] There are no specific criteria for the post, but over the years, it has become accepted that the post shall be held for one or two terms of five years, that the post shall be appointed on the basis of geographical rotation, and that the Secretary-General shall not originate from one of the five permanent Security Council member states.^[22]

Secretaries-General of the United Nations^[23]

No.	Name	Country of origin	Took office	Left office	Note
1	Trygve Lie	Norway	2 February 1946	10 November 1952	Resigned
2	Dag Hammarskjöld	Sweden	10 April 1953	18 September 1961	Died while in office
3	U Thant	Burma	30 November 1961	31 December 1971	First Secretary-General from Asia
4	Kurt Waldheim	Austria	1 January 1972	31 December 1981
5	Javier Pérez de Cuéllar	Peru	1 January 1982	31 December 1991	First Secretary-General from the Americas
6	Boutros Boutros-Ghali	Egypt	1 January 1992	31 December 1996	First Secretary-General from Africa
7	Kofi Annan	Ghana	1 January 1997	31 December 2006
8	Ban Ki-moon	South Korea	1 January 2007	Incumbent

International Court of Justice[link]

Peace Palace, seat of the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), located in The Hague, Netherlands, is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. Established in 1945 by the United Nations Charter, the Court began work in 1946 as the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice. The Statute of the International Court of Justice, similar to that of its predecessor, is the main constitutional document constituting and regulating the Court.^[24]

It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, sharing the building with the Hague Academy of International Law, a private centre for the study of international law. Several of the Court's current judges are either alumni or former faculty members of the Academy. Its purpose is to adjudicate disputes among states. The court has heard cases related to war crimes, illegal state interference and ethnic cleansing, among others, and continues to hear cases.^[25]

International Criminal Court[link]

The International Criminal Court (ICC), it came into being on 1 July 2002 with the entering into force of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court which was adopted on 17 July 1998. It is the first permanent international court charged with trying those who commit the most serious crimes under international law, including war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression (although it cannot exercise jurisdiction over this crime prior to 2017). The ICC is functionally independent of the UN in terms of personnel and financing, but some meetings of the ICC governing body, the Assembly of the States Parties to the Rome Statute, are held at the United Nations. There is a "relationship agreement" between the ICC and the UN that governs how the two institutions regard each other legally.^[26]

Economic and Social Council[link]

The ECOSOC chamber

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) assists the General Assembly in promoting international economic and social cooperation and development. ECOSOC has 54 members, all of which are elected by the General Assembly for a three-year term. The president is elected for a one-year term and chosen amongst the small or middle powers represented on ECOSOC. ECOSOC meets once a year in July for a four-week session. Since 1998, it has held another meeting each April with finance ministers heading key committees of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Viewed separate from the specialized bodies it coordinates, ECOSOC's functions include information gathering, advising member nations, and making recommendations. In addition, ECOSOC is well-positioned to provide policy coherence and coordinate the overlapping functions of the UN’s subsidiary bodies and it is in these roles that it is most active.

Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues[link]

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII or PFII) is the UN's central coordinating body for matters relating to the concerns and rights of the world's indigenous peoples. The forum, which evolved from the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, is an advisory body within the framework of the United Nations System that reports to the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC); however, it performs an advisory function in relation to other branches of the United Nations system. It also works with other U.N. bodies as they address indigenous rights through Conventions such as the International Labour Organization’s Convention No.169 and the Convention on Biological Diversity (Article 8j).^[27]

The Forum's mandate is to:

• Provide expert advice and recommendations to the Economic and Social Council and to the various programmes, funds and agencies of the United Nations System through the Council;
• Raise awareness and promote the integration and coordination of activities related to indigenous issues within the UN system;
• Prepare and disseminate information on these issues.

Since the passage of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, much of the work of UNPFII has surrounded the compliance of U.N. member states to the standards of that declaration.^[27] However, it performs many other international functions as well.^[28]

Specialized institutions[link]

Many UN organizations and agencies exist to work on particular issues. Some of the most well-known agencies are the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), the World Bank and the World Health Organization.

It is through these agencies that the UN performs most of its humanitarian work. Examples include mass vaccination programmes (through the WHO), the avoidance of famine and malnutrition (through the work of the WFP) and the protection of vulnerable and displaced people (for example, by the UNHCR).

The United Nations Charter stipulates that each primary organ of the UN can establish various specialized agencies to fulfil its duties.

Organizations and specialized agencies of the United Nations

No.	Acronyms	Logo	Agency	Headquarters	Head	Established in
1	FAO		Food and Agriculture Organization	Rome, Italy	José Graziano da Silva	1945
2	IAEA		International Atomic Energy Agency	Vienna, Austria	Yukiya Amano	1957
3	ICAO		International Civil Aviation Organization	Montreal, Canada	Raymond Benjamin	1947
4	IFAD		International Fund for Agricultural Development	Rome, Italy	Kanayo F. Nwanze	1977
5	ILO		International Labour Organization	Geneva, Switzerland	Juan Somavía	1946 (1919)
6	IMO		International Maritime Organization	London, United Kingdom	Efthimios E. Mitropoulos	1948
7	IMF		International Monetary Fund	Washington, D.C., USA	Christine Lagarde	1945 (1944)
8	ITU		International Telecommunication Union	Geneva, Switzerland	Hamadoun Touré	1947 (1865)
9	UNESCO		United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization	Paris, France	Irina Bokova	1946
10	UNIDO		United Nations Industrial Development Organization	Vienna, Austria	Kandeh Yumkella	1967
11	UPU		Universal Postal Union	Bern, Switzerland	Edouard Dayan	1947 (1874)
12	WB		World Bank	Washington, D.C., USA	Robert B. Zoellick	1945 (1944)
13	WFP		World Food Programme	Rome, Italy	Josette Sheeran	1963
14	WHO		World Health Organization	Geneva, Switzerland	Margaret Chan	1948
15	WIPO		World Intellectual Property Organization	Geneva, Switzerland	Francis Gurry	1974
16	WMO		World Meteorological Organization	Geneva, Switzerland	Alexander Bedritsky	1950 (1873)
17	UNWTO		World Tourism Organization	Madrid, Spain	Taleb Rifai	1974

Membership[link]

An animation showing the timeline of accession of UN member states, according to the UN. Note that Antarctica has no government; political control of Western Sahara is in dispute; and the territories administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Kosovo are considered by the UN to be provinces of the People's Republic of China and Republic of Serbia, respectively.

With the addition of South Sudan on 14 July 2011,^[29] there are currently 193 United Nations member states, including all fully recognized independent states^[30] apart from Vatican City (the Holy See, which holds sovereignty over the state of Vatican City, is a permanent observer).^[31]

The United Nations Charter outlines the rules for membership:

1. Membership in the United Nations is open to all other peace-loving states that accept the obligations contained in the present Charter and, in the judgment of the Organization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations.
2. The admission of any such state to membership in the United Nations will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

—United Nations Charter, Chapter 2, Article 4, http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/

Group of 77[link]

The Group of 77 at the UN is a loose coalition of developing nations, designed to promote its members' collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations. There were 77 founding members of the organization, but the organization has since expanded to 130 member countries. The group was founded on 15 June 1964 by the "Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Countries" issued at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The first major meeting was in Algiers in 1967, where the Charter of Algiers was adopted and the basis for permanent institutional structures was begun.^[32]

Stated objectives[link]

Peacekeeping and security[link]

Darfur

Western Sahara

Israel/Palestine

Kosovo

Cyprus

Golan

Lebanon

Haiti

Liberia

Côte d'Ivoire

DR Congo

Sudan

East Timor

Jammu and Kashmir

Afghanistan

Current UN peacekeeping missions

The UN, after approval by the Security Council, sends peacekeepers to regions where armed conflict has recently ceased or paused to enforce the terms of peace agreements and to discourage combatants from resuming hostilities. Since the UN does not maintain its own military, peacekeeping forces are voluntarily provided by member states of the UN. The forces, also called the "Blue Helmets", who enforce UN accords, are awarded United Nations Medals, which are considered international decorations instead of military decorations. The peacekeeping force as a whole received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988.^[33]

The founders of the UN had envisaged that the organization would act to prevent conflicts between nations and make future wars impossible, however the outbreak of the Cold War made peacekeeping agreements extremely difficult because of the division of the world into hostile camps. Following the end of the Cold War, there were renewed calls for the UN to become the agency for achieving world peace, as several dozen ongoing conflicts continue to rage around the globe.

A 2005 RAND Corp study found the UN to be successful in two out of three peacekeeping efforts. It compared UN nation-building efforts to those of the United States, and found that seven out of eight UN cases are at peace, as compared with four out of eight US cases at peace.^[34] Also in 2005, the Human Security Report documented a decline in the number of wars, genocides and human rights abuses since the end of the Cold War, and presented evidence, albeit circumstantial, that international activism—mostly spearheaded by the UN—has been the main cause of the decline in armed conflict since the end of the Cold War.^[35] Situations where the UN has not only acted to keep the peace but also occasionally intervened include the Korean War (1950–1953), and the authorization of intervention in Iraq after the Persian Gulf War in 1990.

The UN has also drawn criticism for perceived failures. In many cases, member states have shown reluctance to achieve or enforce Security Council resolutions, an issue that stems from the UN's intergovernmental nature—seen by some as simply an association of 193 member states who must reach consensus, not an independent organization. Disagreements in the Security Council about military action and intervention are seen as having failed to prevent the 1994 Rwandan Genocide,^[36] failed to provide humanitarian aid and intervene in the Second Congo War, failed to intervene in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and protect a refugee haven by authorizing peacekeepers to use force, failure to deliver food to starving people in Somalia, failure to implement provisions of Security Council resolutions related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and continuing failure to prevent genocide or provide assistance in Darfur. UN peacekeepers have also been accused of child rape, sexual abuse or soliciting prostitutes during various peacekeeping missions, starting in 2003, in the Congo,^[37] Haiti,^[38][39] Liberia,^[40] Sudan and what is now South Sudan,^[41] Burundi and Côte d'Ivoire.^[42] In 2004, former Israeli ambassador to the UN Dore Gold criticized what it called the organization's moral relativism in the face of (and occasional support of)^[43] genocide and terrorism that occurred between the moral clarity of its founding period and the present day. Gold specifically mentions Yasser Arafat's 1988 invitation to address the General Assembly as a low point in the UN's history.^[44]

In addition to peacekeeping, the UN is also active in encouraging disarmament. Regulation of armaments was included in the writing of the United Nations Charter in 1945 and was envisioned as a way of limiting the use of human and economic resources for the creation of them.^[45] However, the advent of nuclear weapons came only weeks after the signing of the charter and immediately halted concepts of arms limitation and disarmament, resulting in the first resolution of the first ever General Assembly meeting calling for specific proposals for "the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and of all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction".^[46] The principal forums for disarmament issues are the General Assembly First Committee, the UN Disarmament Commission, and the Conference on Disarmament, and considerations have been made of the merits of a ban on testing nuclear weapons, outer space arms control, the banning of chemical weapons and land mines, nuclear and conventional disarmament, nuclear-weapon-free zones, the reduction of military budgets, and measures to strengthen international security.

The UN is one of the official supporters of the World Security Forum, a major international conference on the effects of global catastrophes and disasters, which took place in the United Arab Emirates in October 2008.

Human rights and humanitarian assistance[link]

Eleanor Roosevelt with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1949

The pursuit of human rights was a central reason for creating the UN. World War II atrocities and genocide led to a ready consensus that the new organization must work to prevent any similar tragedies in the future. An early objective was creating a legal framework for considering and acting on complaints about human rights violations. The UN Charter obliges all member nations to promote "universal respect for, and observance of, human rights" and to take "joint and separate action" to that end. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, though not legally binding, was adopted by the General Assembly in 1948 as a common standard of achievement for all. The Assembly regularly takes up human rights issues.

The UN and its agencies are central in upholding and implementing the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A case in point is support by the UN for countries in transition to democracy. Technical assistance in providing free and fair elections, improving judicial structures, drafting constitutions, training human rights officials, and transforming armed movements into political parties have contributed significantly to democratization worldwide. The UN has helped run elections in countries with little or no democratic history, including recently in Afghanistan and East Timor. The UN is also a forum to support the right of women to participate fully in the political, economic, and social life of their countries. The UN contributes to raising consciousness of the concept of human rights through its covenants and its attention to specific abuses through its General Assembly, Security Council resolutions, or International Court of Justice rulings.

The purpose of the United Nations Human Rights Council, established in 2006,^[47] is to address human rights violations. The Council is the successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which was often criticized for the high-profile positions it gave to member states that did not guarantee the human rights of their own citizens.^[48] The council has 47 members distributed by region, which each serve three-year terms, and may not serve three consecutive terms.^[49] A candidate to the body must be approved by a majority of the General Assembly. In addition, the council has strict rules for membership, including a universal human rights review. While some members with questionable human rights records have been elected, it is fewer than before with the increased focus on each member state's human rights record.^[50]

The rights of some 370 million indigenous peoples around the world are also a focus for the UN, with a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples being approved by the General Assembly in 2007.^[51] The declaration outlines the individual and collective rights to culture, language, education, identity, employment and health, thereby addressing post-colonial issues that had confronted indigenous peoples for centuries. The declaration aims to maintain, strengthen and encourage the growth of indigenous institutions, cultures and traditions. It also prohibits discrimination against indigenous peoples and promotes their active participation in matters that concern their past, present and future.^[51] The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is the UN's central coordinating body for matters relating to the concerns and rights of the world's indigenous peoples. The forum is an advisory body within the framework of the United Nations System that reports to the UN's Economic and Social Council.

In conjunction with other organizations such as the Red Cross, the UN provides food, drinking water, shelter and other humanitarian services to populaces suffering from famine, displaced by war, or afflicted by other disasters. Major humanitarian branches of the UN are the World Food Programme (which helps feed more than 100 million people a year in 80 countries), the office of the High Commissioner for Refugees with projects in over 116 countries, as well as peacekeeping projects in over 24 countries.

Social and economic development[link]

The UN is involved in supporting development, e.g. by the formulation of the Millennium Development Goals. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is the largest multilateral source of grant technical assistance in the world. Organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), UNAIDS, and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are leading institutions in the battle against diseases around the world, especially in poor countries. The UN Population Fund is a major provider of reproductive services. 32 UN agencies performing tasks on development are coordinating their efforts through the United Nations Development Group or UNDG.^[52]

The UN also promotes human development through some related agencies, particularly the UNDP.^[53] The World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF), for example, are independent, specialized agencies and observers within the UN framework, according to a 1947 agreement. They were initially formed as separate from the UN through the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1944.^[54]

The UNDP annually publishes the Human Development Index (HDI), a comparative measure ranking countries by poverty, literacy, education, life expectancy, and other factors.^[55]

The Millennium Development Goals (declared in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, signed in September 2000) are eight goals that all of the then 192 United Nations member states have agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015.^[56]

Mandates[link]

From time to time, the different bodies of the United Nations pass resolutions that contain operating paragraphs that begin with the words "requests", "calls upon", or "encourages", which the Secretary-General interprets as a mandate to set up a temporary organization or do something. These mandates can be as little as researching and publishing a written report, or mounting a full-scale peacekeeping operation (usually the exclusive domain of the Security Council).

Although the specialized institutions, such as the WHO, were originally set up by this means, they are not the same as mandates because they are permanent organizations that exist independently of the UN with their own membership structure. One could say that original mandate was simply to cover the process of setting up the institution, and has therefore long expired. Most mandates expire after a limited period and require renewal from the body, which set them up.

One of the outcomes of the 2005 World Summit was a mandate (labelled id 17171) for the Secretary-General to "review all mandates older than five years originating from resolutions of the General Assembly and other organs". To facilitate this review and to finally bring coherence to the organization, the Secretariat has produced an on-line registry of mandates to draw together the reports relating to each one and create an overall picture.^[57]

Greening the Blue[link]

On 5 June 2007, World Environment Day, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made public his ambition to make the United Nations more efficient in its operations: “I would like to see our renovated Headquarters complex eventually become a globally acclaimed model of efficient use of energy and resources. Beyond New York, the initiative should include the other United Nations headquarters and offices around the globe.� The UN's progress towards achieving this goal is communicated through the initiative Greening the Blue (see external links below).

Other[link]

Over the lifetime of the UN, over 80 colonies have attained independence.^[58] The General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples in 1960 with no votes against but abstentions from all major colonial powers. Through the UN Committee on Decolonization,^[59] created in 1962, the UN has focused considerable attention on decolonization. It has also supported the new states that have arisen as a result of self-determination initiatives. The committee has overseen the decolonization of every country larger than 20,000 km² and removed them from the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories, besides Western Sahara, a country larger than the UK only relinquished by Spain in 1975.

The UN declares and coordinates international observances, periods of time to observe some issue of international interest or concern. Using the symbolism of the UN, a specially designed logo for the year, and the infrastructure of the United Nations System, various days and years have become catalysts to advancing key issues of concern on a global scale. For example, World Tuberculosis Day, Earth Day and International Year of Deserts and Desertification.

Funding[link]

Top 10 donators to the UN budget, 2011^[60]

Member state	Contribution (% of UN budget)
USA	22.000%
Japan	12.530%
Germany	8.018%
United Kingdom	6.604%
France	6.123%
Italy	4.999%
Canada	3.207%
China	3.189%
Spain	3.177%
Mexico	2.356%
Other member states	27.797%

The UN is financed from assessed and voluntary contributions from member states. The General Assembly approves the regular budget and determines the assessment for each member. This is broadly based on the relative capacity of each country to pay, as measured by their gross national income (GNI), with adjustments for external debt and low per capita income.^[61]

The Assembly has established the principle that the UN should not be overly dependent on any one member to finance its operations. Thus, there is a 'ceiling' rate, setting the maximum amount any member is assessed for the regular budget. In December 2000, the Assembly revised the scale of assessments to reflect current global circumstances. As part of that revision, the regular budget ceiling was reduced from 25% to 22%. For the least developed countries (LDCs), a ceiling rate of 0.01% is applied.^[61] In addition to the ceiling rates, the minimum amount assessed to any member nation (or 'floor' rate) is set at 0.001% of the UN budget. Refer to the table for major contributors.

A large share of UN expenditures addresses the core UN mission of peace and security. The peacekeeping budget for the 2005–2006 fiscal year was approximately US$5 billion, €2.5 billion (compared to approximately US$1.5 billion, €995 million for the UN core budget over the same period), with some 70,000 troops deployed in 17 missions around the world.^[62] UN peace operations are funded by assessments, using a formula derived from the regular funding scale, but including a weighted surcharge for the five permanent Security Council members, who must approve all peacekeeping operations. This surcharge serves to offset discounted peacekeeping assessment rates for less developed countries. As of 1 January 2011, the top 10 providers of assessed financial contributions to United Nations peacekeeping operations were: the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, China, Canada, Spain and the Republic of Korea.^[63]

Special UN programmes not included in the regular budget (such as UNICEF, the WFP and UNDP) are financed by voluntary contributions from other member governments. Most of this is financial contributions, but some is in the form of agricultural commodities donated for afflicted populations. Since their funding is voluntary, many of these agencies suffer severe shortages during economic recessions. In July 2009, the World Food Programme reported that it has been forced to cut services because of insufficient funding.^[64] It has received barely a quarter of the total it needed for the 09/10 financial year.

Personnel policy[link]

The UN and its agencies are immune to the laws of the countries where they operate, safeguarding UN's impartiality with regard to the host and member countries.^[65]

Despite their independence in matters of human resources policy, the UN and its agencies voluntarily apply the laws of member states regarding same-sex marriages, allowing decisions about the status of employees in a same-sex partnership to be based on nationality. The UN and its agencies recognize same-sex marriages only if the employees are citizens of countries that recognize the marriage. This practice is not specific to the recognition of same-sex marriage but reflects a common practice of the UN for a number of human resources matters. It has to be noted though that some agencies provide limited benefits to domestic partners of their staff and that some agencies do not recognise same-sex marriage or domestic partnership of their staff.^{[citation needed]}

Reform[link]

In 2005, then-Secretary General Kofi Annan published his report In Larger Freedom, a proposal for reform of the UN.

Since its founding, there have been many calls for reform of the United Nations, although little consensus on how to do so. Some want the UN to play a greater or more effective role in world affairs, while others want its role reduced to humanitarian work.^[66] There have also been numerous calls for the UN Security Council's membership to be increased, for different ways of electing the UN's Secretary-General, and for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly.

The UN has also been accused of bureaucratic inefficiency and waste. During the 1990s, the United States withheld dues citing inefficiency, and only started repayment on the condition that a major reforms initiative was introduced. In 1994, the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) was established by the General Assembly to serve as an efficiency watchdog.^[67]

An official reform programme was begun by Kofi Annan in 1997. Reforms mentioned include changing the permanent membership of the Security Council (which currently reflects the power relations of 1945), making the bureaucracy more transparent, accountable and efficient, making the UN more democratic, and imposing an international tariff on arms manufacturers worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2005, the UN convened a World Summit that brought together the heads of most member states, calling the summit "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to take bold decisions in the areas of development, security, human rights and reform of the United Nations."^[68] Kofi Annan had proposed that the summit agree on a global "grand bargain" to reform the UN, renewing the organization's focus on peace, security, human rights and development, and to make it better equipped at facing 21st century issues. The World Summit Outcome Document delineated the conclusions of the meeting, including: the creation of a Peacebuilding Commission, to help countries emerging from conflict; a Human Rights Council and a democracy fund; a clear and unambiguous condemnation of terrorism "in all its forms and manifestations"; agreements to devote more resources to the Office of Internal Oversight Services; agreements to spend billions more on achieving the Millennium Development Goals; the dissolution of the Trusteeship Council, because of the completion of its mission; and, the agreement that individual states, with the assistance of the international community, have the "responsibility to protect" populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity- with the understanding that the international community is prepared to act "collectively" in a “timely and decisive manner� to protect vulnerable civilians should a state "manifestly fail" in fulfilling its responsibility.^[69]

The Office of Internal Oversight Services is being restructured to better define its scope and mandate, and will receive more resources. In addition, to improve the oversight and auditing capabilities of the General Assembly, an Independent Audit Advisory Committee (IAAC) is being created. In June 2007, the Fifth Committee created a draft resolution for the terms of reference of this committee.^[70][71] An ethics office was established in 2006, responsible for administering new financial disclosure and whistleblower protection policies. Working with the OIOS, the ethics office also plans to implement a policy to avoid fraud and corruption.^[72] The Secretariat is in the process of reviewing all UN mandates that are more than five years old. The review is intended to determine which duplicative or unnecessary programmes should be eliminated. Not all member states agree on which of the over 7000 mandates should be reviewed. The dispute centres on whether mandates that have been renewed should be examined.^[73] Indeed, the obstacles identified – in particular, the lack of information on the resource implications of each mandate – constituted sufficient justification for the General Assembly to discontinue the mandate review in September 2008. In the meantime, the General Assembly launched a number of new loosely related reform initiatives in April 2007, covering international environmental governance, ‘Delivering as One’ at the country level to enhance the consolidation of UN programme activities and a unified gender organization. Whereas little was achieved on the first two issues, the General Assembly approved in September 2010 the establishment of ‘UN Women’ as the new UN organization for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women was established by unifying the resources and mandates of four small entities for greater impact and its first head is Ms. Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

Collective security High-level Panel on United Nations Systemwide Coherence International relations List of current Permanent Representatives to the United Nations Model United Nations Official statistics UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Official languages of the United Nations United Nations Association United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) United Nations in popular culture United Nations International School United Nations Peace Messenger Cities United Nations Postal Administration United Nations Security Council United Nations University University for Peace World Heritage Site Yearbook of the United Nations

United Nations portal

Relations between specific states and the United Nations[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• United Nations Intellectual History Project Book Series. Indiana University Press.
• "Think Again: The United Nations", Madeleine K. Albright, Foreign Policy, September/October 2004.
• Hans Köchler, Quo Vadis, United Nations?, in: Law Review, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, College of Law, May 2005 Online version.
• An Insider's Guide to the UN, Linda Fasulo, Yale University Press (1 November 2003), hardcover, 272 pages, ISBN 0-300-10155-4.
• United Nations: The First Fifty Years, Stanley Mesler, Atlantic Monthly Press (1 March 1997), hardcover, 416 pages, ISBN 0-87113-656-2.
• Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations, Stephen Schlesinger, Westview Press (1 September 2003), softcover, 374 pages, ISBN 978-0-8133-3324-3.
• The United Nations Security Council and War: The Evolution of Thought and Practice since 1945, edited by Vaughan Lowe, Adam Roberts, Jennifer Welsh and Dominik Zaum, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2010, paperback, 794 pages. ISBN 978-0-19-958330-0. For US edition, click here.
• United Nations, Divided World: The UN's Roles in International Relations, edited by Adam Roberts and Benedict Kingsbury, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2nd edition, 1993, paperback, 589 pages. ISBN 0-19-827926-4. For US edition, click here.
• A Guide to Delegate Preparation: A Model United Nations Handbook, edited by Scott A. Leslie, The United Nations Association of the United States of America, 2004 edition (October 2004), softcover, 296 pages, ISBN 1-880632-71-3.
• "U.S. At War–International." Time Magazine XLV.19 7 May 1945: 25–28.
• The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations, edited by Thomas G. Weiss and Sam Daws, Oxford University Press, July 2007, hardcover, 896 pages, ISBN 978-0-19-927951-7, ISBN 0-19-927951-9.

• Gold, Dore. Tower of Babble: How the United Nations Has Fueled Global Chaos. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004.

External links[link]

Find more about United Nations on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
	News stories from Wikinews
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Textbooks from Wikibooks

Official websites

• United Nations official homepage
• United Nations Systems of Organizations
• About the United Nations
• Global Issues on the UN Agenda
• High-level Panel on United Nations Systemwide Coherence
• Journal of the United Nations: Programme of meetings and agenda.
• The United Nations Regional Information Centre (UNRIC)
• Greening the Blue: The United Nations' approach to managing its own sustainability performance
• UN Chronicle Magazine
• UN Organisation Chart
• UN Works
• United Nations Charter–Charter text
• United Nations Security Council Resolutions
• United Nations Volunteers
• United Nations Webcasts
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• World Map of UN websites and locations

Other

• United Nations Rule of Law, the United Nations' centralized website on the rule of law.
• Documents and Resources on UN, War, War Crimes and Genocide
• Eye on the UN–A Project of the Hudson Institute New York and the Touro Law Center Institute for Human Rights
• United Nations LibGuide resources from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign Library
• History of the United Nations–UK Government site
• Inner City Press–UN related news.
• Outcomes of the 2005 World SummitPDF (82.9 KB)
• Permanent Missions To The United Nations
• Searchable archive of UN discussions and votes
• List of UN datasets on CKAN, a registry of open data
• Task Force on United Nations–U.S. Institute of Peace
• UN watch–non-governmental organization based in Geneva whose mandate is to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own Charter.
• United Nations Association of the UK: independent policy authority on the UN
• United Nations: Inside the Glass House–Independent news reports by the news agency Inter Press Service
• United Nations eLearning Unit created by ISRG–University of Innsbruck
• United Nations Research Guide from the Mississippi State University Libraries
• Website of the Global Policy Forum, an independent think-tank on the UN
• United Nations Offices Worldwide

v t e United Nations (UN) UN System Member states â€¢ Observers â€¢ General Assembly (President) â€¢ Security Council â€¢ Department of Economic and Social Affairs â€¢ Economic and Social Council â€¢ Secretariat (Secretary-General) â€¢ Trusteeship Council â€¢ International Court of Justice History League of Nations â€¢ Peacekeeping missions (history â€¢ timeline) â€¢ Enlargement Major[vague] offices New York (Headquarters) â€¢ Geneva (Office) â€¢ Nairobi (Office) â€¢ Vienna (Office) Programmes and agencies FAO â€¢ ICAO â€¢ ILO â€¢ IMO â€¢ IPCC â€¢ IAEA â€¢ UNIDO â€¢ ITU â€¢ UNAIDS â€¢ SCSL â€¢ UNCTAD â€¢ UNCITRAL â€¢ UNDG â€¢ UNDP â€¢ UNDPI â€¢ UNEP (OzonAction, UNEP/GRID-Arendal) â€¢ UNESCO â€¢ UNODC â€¢ UNFIP â€¢ UNFPA â€¢ OHCHR â€¢ UNHCR â€¢ UNHRC â€¢ UN-HABITAT â€¢ UNICEF â€¢ UNITAR â€¢ UNOSAT â€¢ UNRWA â€¢ UN Women â€¢ UNWTO â€¢ UPU â€¢ WFP â€¢ WHO â€¢ WMO Resolutions General Assembly â€¢ Security Council Elections 2011 UNSC â€¢ 2011 ICJ â€¢ 2012 UNGA President â€¢ 2012 UNSC Related topics Bretton Woods system â€¢ Charter â€¢ CTBTO â€¢ Delivering as One â€¢ Flag â€¢ Honor Flag â€¢ Global Compact â€¢ ICC â€¢ Laissez-Passer â€¢ OPCW â€¢ Treaty Series â€¢ UN Day â€¢ UDHR â€¢ MDGs â€¢ UN reform  Category â€¢  Portal

v t e United Nations' relations with its Member States Asia China India Israel and Palestine Japan Lebanon Pakistan Europe France Germany Russia United Kingdom North America Canada Trinidad and Tobago United States Oceania Australia Fiji Marshall Islands Micronesia New Zealand Tuvalu Vanuatu South America Brazil Others Holy See Palestine European Union Former members Soviet Union

A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, or history.^[1] In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government (for example the inhabitants of a sovereign state) irrespective of their ethnic make-up.^[2][3] In international relations, nation can refer to a country or sovereign state.^[1] The word nation can more specifically refer to people of North American Indians, such as the Cherokee Nation that prefer this term over the contested term tribe.^[1]

According to Joseph Stalin writing in 1913 in Marxism and the National Question: "a nation is not a racial or tribal, but a historically constituted community of people;" "a nation is not a casual or ephemeral conglomeration, but a stable community of people;" "a common language is one of the characteristic features of a nation;" "a nation is formed only as a result of lengthy and systematic intercourse, as a result of people living together generation after generation;" "a common territory is one of the characteristic features of a nation;" "a common economic life, economic cohesion, is one of the characteristic features of a nation;" "a common psychological make-up, which manifests itself in a common culture, is one of the characteristic features of a nation;" "A nation is a historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture." According to Stalin, this would exclude Jews as they have no common territory.^[4]

An alternative view, expressed by Otto Bauer, author of Social Democracy and the Nationalities Question (1907), that "A nation is an aggregate of people bound into a community of character by a common destiny." would include Jews. R. Springer, author of The National Problem (1909), also cited by Stalin in his discussion of this matter, held similar views.^[4]

Etymology[link]

The word nation came to English from the Old French word nacion, which in turn originates from the Latin word natio (nÄ?tÄ­Å?) literally meaning "that which has been born".^[5]

As an example of how the word natio was employed in classical Latin, the following quote from Cicero's Philippics Against Mark Antony in 44 BC contrasts the external, inferior nationes ("races of people") with the Roman civitas ("community"):

"Omnes nationes servitutem ferre possunt: nostra civitas non potest."
("All races are able to bear enslavement, but our community cannot.")

— Cicero, Orationes: Pro Milone, Pro Marcello, Pro Ligario, Pro rege Deiotaro, Philippicae I-XIV^[6]

An early example of the use of the word "nation" (in conjunction with language and territory) was provided in 968 by Liutprand (the bishop of Cremona) who, while confronting the Byzantine emperor, Nicephorus II, on behalf of his patron Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, declared:

"The land...which you say belongs to your empire belongs, as the nationality and language of the people proves, to the kingdom of Italy.'"

— Liutprand, Relatio de legatione Constantinopolitana ad Nicephorum Phocam ^[7]

[edit] Medieval nationes

A significant early use of the term nation, as natio, occurred at mediaeval universities^[8] to describe the colleagues in a college or students, above all at the University of Paris, who were all born within a pays, spoke the same language and expected to be ruled by their own familiar law. In 1383 and 1384, while studying theology at Paris, Jean Gerson was elected twice as a procurator for the French natio. The University of Prague adopted the division of students into nationes: from its opening in 1349 the studium generale which consisted of Bohemian, Bavarian, Saxon and Polish nations.

In a similar way, the nationes were segregated by the Knights Hospitaller of Jerusalem, who maintained at Rhodes the hostels from which they took their name "where foreigners eat and have their places of meeting, each nation apart from the others, and a Knight has charge of each one of these hostels, and provides for the necessities of the inmates according to their religion", as the Spanish traveller Pedro Tafur noted in 1436.^[9]

See also[link]

References[link]

kn

Secretary General is a title many different organizations give to their leader.

Organizations[link]

International intergovernmental organizations[link]

International nongovernmental organizations[link]

Sports governing bodies[link]

See also[link]

• General Secretary

Ban Ki-moon 반기문 潘基文
Secretary-General of the United Nations
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2007
Deputy	Asha-Rose Migiro Jan Eliasson (designate)
Preceded by	Kofi Annan
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade
In office January 17, 2004 â€“ November 10, 2007
President	Roh Moo-hyun
Prime Minister	Goh Kun Lee Hae Chan Han Duck-soo Han Myeong-sook
Preceded by	Yoon Young Kwan
Succeeded by	Song Min-soon
Personal details
Born	(1944-06-13) 13 June 1944 (age 68)[1] InjÅ?, ChÅ«sei-hokudÅ?, Korea, Empire of Japan (present-day Eumseong County, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea)
Nationality	South Korean
Spouse(s)	Yoo Soon-taek
Alma mater	Seoul National University (B.A.) Harvard University (M.P.A.)
Religion	No public affiliation[2][3]
Signature

This article contains Korean text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Hangul or Hanja.

Ban Ki-moon (Hangul: 반기문; Hanja: 潘基文; born 13 June 1944) is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he graduated from university, accepting his first post in New Delhi, India. In the foreign ministry he established a reputation for modesty and competence .

Ban was the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea from January 2004 to November 2006. In February 2006, he began to campaign for the office of Secretary-General. Ban was initially considered to be a long shot for the office. As foreign minister of South Korea, however, he was able to travel to all of the countries that were members of the United Nations Security Council, a maneuver that turned him into the front runner.

On 11 October 2006, he was elected to be the eighth Secretary-General by the United Nations General Assembly and officially succeeded Annan on 1 January 2007. Ban has led several major reforms regarding peacekeeping and UN employment practices. Diplomatically, Ban has taken particularly strong views on Darfur, where he helped persuade Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to allow peacekeeping troops to enter Sudan; and on global warming, pressing the issue repeatedly with former U.S. President George W. Bush. Ban has received strong criticism from OIOS, the UN internal audit unit, stating that the secretariat, under Ban's leadership, is "drifting into irrelevance".^[4]

In 2011, Ban ran unopposed for a second term as Secretary-General. On 21 June 2011, he was unanimously re-elected by the General Assembly and therefore will continue to serve until 31 December 2016.^[5][6]

Biography[link]

Ban was born in Eumseong in a small farming village in North Chungcheong, in 1944 at the end of the Japanese rule of Korea. His family moved to the nearby town of Chungju, where he was raised.^[7] During Ban's childhood, his father had a warehouse business, but the warehouse went bankrupt and the family lost its middle-class standard of living. When Ban was six, his family fled to a remote mountainside for the duration of the Korean War.^[1] After the war ended, his family returned to Chungju. Ban has mentioned meeting U.S. military troops at this time.^[8]

In secondary school (Chungju High School), Ban became a star pupil, particularly in his studies of English. In 1952, he was selected by his class to address a message to then UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, but it is unknown if the message was ever sent. In 1962, Ban won an essay contest sponsored by the Red Cross and earned a trip to the United States where he lived in San Francisco with a host family for several months.^[9] As part of the trip, Ban met U.S. President John F. Kennedy.^[1] When a journalist at the meeting asked Ban what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said, "I want to become a diplomat."^[8]

He received a [[bachelor's degree] in International Relations from Seoul National University in 1970, and earned a Master of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1985.^[8] At Harvard, he studied under Joseph Nye who remarked that Ban had "a rare combination of analytic clarity, humility and perseverance."^[9] Ban was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) by the University of Malta on 22 April 2009.^[10] He further received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Washington in October 2009.^[11]

In addition to his native Korean, Ban speaks English, French, and Japanese. There have been questions, however, regarding the extent of his knowledge of French, one of the two working languages of the United Nations Secretariat.^[12]

Family[link]

Ban Ki-moon met Yoo Soon-taek in 1962 when they were both high school students. Ban was 18 years old, and Yoo Soon-taek was his secondary school's student council president. Ban Ki-moon married Yoo Soon-taek in 1971. They have three adult children: two daughters and a son. His elder daughter, Seon-yong, was born in 1972 and now works for the Korea Foundation in Seoul. She is married to an Indian.^[13][14] His son, Woo-hyun was born in 1974 in India.^[13] He received an MBA from Anderson School of Management at University of California, Los Angeles, and works for an investment firm in New York.^[15] His younger daughter, Hyun-hee (born 1976), is a field officer for UNICEF in Nairobi.^[1] After his election as Secretary-General, Ban became an icon in his hometown, where his extended family still resides. Over 50,000 gathered in a soccer stadium in Chungju for celebration of the result. In the months following his election, thousands of practitioners of geomancy went to his village to determine how it produced such an important person.^[7] Ban himself is not a member of any church or religious group^[2] and has declined to expound his beliefs: "Now, as Secretary-General, it will not be appropriate at this time to talk about my own belief in any particular religion or God. So maybe we will have some other time to talk about personal matters."^[3] His mother is a Buddhist.^[7]

Personality[link]

In the Korean Foreign Ministry his nickname was riya, meaning "the Bureaucrat" or "the administrative clerk." The name was used as both positive and negative: complimenting Ban's attention to detail and administrative skill while deriding what was seen as a lack of charisma and subservience to his superiors.^[16] The Korean press corps calls him "the slippery eel" for his ability to dodge questions.^[8] His peers praise his understated "Confucian approach."^[17] and he is regarded by many as a "stand-up guy"^[9] and is known for his "easy smile".^[1]

Diplomatic career[link]

Ban Ki-moon with former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

After graduating from university, Ban received the top score on Korea's foreign service exam. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May 1970, and worked his way up the career ladder during the years of the Yusin Constitution.^[9]

His first overseas posting was to New Delhi, where he served as vice consul and impressed many of his superiors in the foreign ministry with his competence. Ban reportedly accepted a posting to India rather than the more prestigious United States, because in India he would be able to save more money, and send more money home to his family.^[18][19] In 1974 he received his first posting to the United Nations, as First Secretary of the South Permanent Observer Mission (South Korea became a full UN member-state on 17 September 1991).^[20] After Park Chung-hee's 1979 assassination, Ban assumed the post of Director of the United Nations Division.

In 1980 Ban became director of the United Nations' International Organizations and Treaties Bureau, headquartered in Seoul.^[19] He has been posted twice to the Republic of Korea embassy in Washington, D.C. Between these two assignments he served as Director-General for American Affairs in 1990–1992. In 1992, he became Vice Chairman of the South-North Joint Nuclear Control Commission, following the adoption by South and North Korea of the Joint Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.^[18] From 1993–1994 Ban was Korea's deputy ambassador to the United States. He was promoted to the position of Deputy Minister for Policy Planning and International Organizations in 1995 and then appointed National Security Advisor to the President in 1996.^[19] Ban's lengthy career overseas has been credited with helping him avoid South Korea's unforgiving political environment.^[17]

Ban was appointed Ambassador to Austria and Slovenia in 1998, and a year later he was also elected as Chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO PrepCom). During the negotiations, in what Ban considers the biggest blunder of his career, he included in a public letter a positive statement about the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2001, not long after the United States had decided to abandon the treaty. To avoid anger from the United States, Ban was fired by President Kim Dae-jung, who also issued a public apology for Ban's statement.^[1]

Ban was unemployed for the only time in his career and was expecting to receive an assignment to work in a remote and unimportant embassy.^[1] In 2001, during the 56th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Republic of Korea held the rotating presidency, and to Ban's surprise, he was selected to be the chief of staff to general assembly president Han Seung-soo.^[21] In 2003, incoming president Roh Moo-hyun selected Ban as one of his foreign policy advisors.^[19]

Foreign Minister of South Korea[link]

In 2004, Ban replaced Yoon Young Kwan as foreign minister of South Korea under president Roh Moo-hyun.^[8] At the beginning of his term, Ban was faced with two major crises: in June 2004 Kim Sun-il, a Korean translator, was kidnapped and killed in Iraq by Islamic extremists; and in December 2004 dozens of Koreans died in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Ban survived scrutiny from lawmakers and saw an upturn in his popularity when talks began with North Korea.^[19] Ban became actively involved in issues relating to inter-Korean relationships.^[18] In September 2005, as Foreign Minister, he played a leading role in the diplomatic efforts to adopt the Joint Statement on resolving the North Korean nuclear issue at the Fourth Round of the Six-party talks held in Beijing.^[22][23]

As foreign minister, Ban oversaw the trade and aid policies of South Korea. This work put Ban in the position of signing trade deals and delivering foreign assistance to diplomats who would later be influential in his candidacy for Secretary-General. For example, Ban became the first senior South Korean minister to travel to the Republic of the Congo since its independence in 1960.^[24]

Campaign for Secretary-General: 2007[link]

2007 Secretary-General candidates[25]
	Name	Position
	Ban Ki-moon	South Korean foreign minister
	Shashi Tharoor	Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations for public information; from India
	Vaira VÄ«Ä·e-Freiberga	President of Latvia
	Ashraf Ghani	Chancellor of Kabul University, Afghanistan
	Surakiart Sathirathai	Deputy prime minister of Thailand
	Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad	Jordan's ambassador to the United Nations
	Jayantha Dhanapala	Former Under-Secretary-General for disarmament; from Sri Lanka

In February 2006, Ban declared his candidacy to replace Kofi Annan as UN Secretary-General at the end of 2006, becoming the first South Korean to run for the office.^[26] Though Ban was the first to announce a candidacy, he was not originally considered a serious contender.^[9]

Over the next eight months, Ban made ministerial visits to each of the 15 countries with a seat on the Security Council.^[8] Of the seven candidates, he topped each of the four straw polls conducted by the United Nations Security Council: on 24 July,^[27] 14 September,^[28] 28 September,^[29] and 2 October.^[30]

During the period in which these polls took place, Ban made major speeches to the Asia Society and the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.^[31][32] To be confirmed, Ban needed not only to win the support of the diplomatic community, but also to be able to avoid a veto from any of the five permanent members of the council: People's Republic of China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Ban was popular in Washington for having pushed to send South Korean troops to Iraq, and had the support of the Bush administration as he pursued the position.^[33] But Ban also opposed several U.S. positions: he expressed his support for the International Criminal Court and favoured an entirely non-confrontational approach to dealing with North Korea.^[8] Ban said during his campaign that he would like to visit North Korea in person to meet with Kim Jong-il directly.^[23] Ban was viewed as a stark contrast from Kofi Annan, who was considered charismatic, but perceived as a weak manager because of problems surrounding the UN's oil-for-food program in Iraq.^[16]

Ban struggled to win the approval of France. His official biography states that he speaks both English and French, the two working languages of the UN Secretariat. He has repeatedly struggled to answer questions in French from journalists.^[12] Ban has repeatedly acknowledged his limitations at French, but assured French diplomats that he was devoted to continuing his study. At a press conference on 11 January 2007, Ban remarked, "My French perhaps could be improved, and I am continuing to work. I have taken French lessons over the last few months. I think that, even if my French isn't perfect, I will continue to study it."^[34]

As the Secretary-General election drew closer, there was rising criticism of the South Korean campaign on Ban's behalf. Specifically, his alleged practice of systematically visiting all member states of the Security Council in his role as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade to secure votes in his support by signing trade deals with European countries and pledging aid to developing countries were the focus of many news articles.^[35] According to The Washington Post, "rivals have privately grumbled that Republic of Korea, which has the world's 11th-largest economy, has wielded its economic might to generate support for his candidacy." Ban reportedly said that these insinuations were "groundless." In an interview on 17 September 2006 he stated: "As front-runner, I know that I can become a target of this very scrutinizing process," and "I am a man of integrity."^[36]

In the final informal poll on 2 October, Ban received fourteen favorable votes and one abstention ("no opinion") from the fifteen members of the Security Council. The one abstention came from the Japanese delegation, who vehemently opposed the idea of a Korean taking the role of Secretary-General. Due to the overwhelming support of Ban by the rest of the Security Council, Japan later voted in favor of Ban to avoid controversy. More importantly, Ban was the only one to escape a veto; each of the other candidates received at least one "no" vote from among the five permanent members. After the vote, Shashi Tharoor, who finished second, withdrew his candidacy^[37] and China's Permanent Representative to the UN told reporters that "it is quite clear from today's straw poll that Minister Ban Ki-moon is the candidate that the Security Council will recommend to the General Assembly."^[38]

Wikinews has related news: General Assembly elects Ban Ki-moon as next UN chief

On 9 October, the Security Council formally chose Ban as its nominee. In the public vote, he was supported by all 15 members of the council.^[39] On 13 October, the 192-member General Assembly acclaimed Ban as Secretary-General.^[21]

First Term as Secretary-General[link]

Ban Ki-moon with the President of Russia Vladimir Putin in Moscow on 9 April 2008.

When Ban became Secretary-General, The Economist listed the major challenges facing him in 2007: "rising nuclear demons in Iran and North Korea, a haemorrhaging wound in Darfur, unending violence in the Middle East, looming environmental disaster, escalating international terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the spread of HIV/AIDS. And then the more parochial concerns, such as the largely unfinished business of the most sweeping attempt at reform in the UN's history."^[40] Before starting, Kofi Annan shared the story that when the first Secretary-General Trygve Lie left office, he told his successor, Dag Hammarskjöld, "You are about to take over the most impossible job on earth."^[21]

On 23 January 2007 Ban took office as the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations. Ban's term as Secretary-General opened with a flap. At his first encounter with the press as Secretary-General on 2 January 2007, he refused to condemn the death penalty imposed on Saddam Hussein by the Iraqi High Tribunal, remarking that "The issue of capital punishment is for each and every member State to decide".^[41] Ban's statements contradicted long-standing United Nations opposition to the death penalty as a human-rights concern.^[42] He quickly clarified his stance in the case of Barzan al-Tikriti and Awad al-Bandar, two top officials who were convicted of the deaths of 148 Shia Muslims in the Iraqi village of Dujail in the 1980s. In a statement through his spokesperson on 6 January, he "strongly urged the Government of Iraq to grant a stay of execution to those whose death sentences may be carried out in the near future."^[43][44] On the broader issue, he told a Washington, D.C., audience on 16 January 2007 that he recognized and encouraged the "growing trend in international society, international law and domestic policies and practices to phase out eventually the death penalty."^[45]

On the tenth anniversary of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's death, 15 April 2008, Ban Ki-moon appealed for the senior leaders of the regime to be brought to justice. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia-tribunal, which was established by both the United Nations and Cambodia and which became operational in 2006, is expected to continue until at least 2010.^[46]

Cabinet[link]

In early January, Ban appointed the key members of his cabinet. As his Deputy Secretary-General, he selected Tanzanian foreign minister and professor Asha-Rose Migiro – a move that pleased African diplomats who had concerns of losing power without Annan in office.^[47]

The top position devoted exclusively to management, Under-Secretary-General for Management, was filled by Alicia Bárcena Ibarra of Mexico. Bárcena was considered a UN insider, having previously served as Annan's chief of staff. Her appointment was seen by critics as an indication that Ban would not make dramatic changes to UN bureaucracy.^[48] Ban appointed Sir John Holmes, the British Ambassador to France, as Under-Secretary-General for humanitarian affairs and coordinator of emergency relief.^[48]

Ban initially said that he would delay making other appointments until his first round of reforms were approved, but he later abandoned this idea after receiving criticism.^[43][49] In February he continued with appointments, selecting B. Lynn Pascoe, the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, to become Under-Secretary-General for political affairs. Jean-Marie Guéhenno, a French diplomat, who had served as Under-Secretary-General for peacekeeping operations under Annan, remained in office. Ban selected Vijay K. Nambiar as his chief of staff.^[50]

The appointment of many women to top jobs was seen as fulfilling a campaign promise Ban had made to increase the role of women in the United Nations. During Ban's first year as Secretary-General, more top jobs were being handled by women than ever before. Though not appointed by Ban, the president of the General Assembly, Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, is only the third woman to hold this position in UN history.^[51]

Reform agenda[link]

During his first month in office, Ban proposed two major restructurings: to split the UN peacekeeping operation into two departments and to combine the political affairs and disarmament department. His proposals were met with stiff resistance from members of the UN General Assembly who bristled under Ban's request for rapid approval. The proposed merger of the disarmament and political affairs offices was criticized by many in the developing world, partially because of rumours that Ban hoped to place American B. Lynn Pascoe in charge of the new office. Alejandro D. Wolff, then acting American ambassador, said the United States backed his proposals.^[43][49]

After the early bout of reproach, Ban began extensive consultation with UN ambassadors, agreeing to have his peacekeeping proposal extensively vetted. After the consultations, Ban dropped his proposal to combine political affairs and disarmament.^[52] Ban nevertheless pressed ahead with reforms on job requirements at the UN requiring that all positions be considered five-year appointments, all receive strict annual performance reviews, and all financial disclosures be made public. Though unpopular in the New York office, the move was popular in other UN offices around the world and lauded by UN observers.^[53] Ban's proposal to split the peacekeeping operation into one group handling operations and another handling arms was finally adopted in mid-March 2007.^[54]

Key issues[link]

The Secretary-General of the United Nations has the ability to influence debate on nearly any global issue. Although unsuccessful in some areas, Ban's predecessor Annan had been successful in increasing the UN peacekeeping presence and in popularizing the Millennium Development Goals. UN observers were eager to see on which issues Ban intends to focus, in addition to reform of the United Nations bureaucracy.^[40]

On several prominent issues, such as proliferation in Iran and North Korea, Ban has deferred to the Security Council.^[54] In 2007, the Republic of Nauru raised the issue of allowing the Republic of China (Taiwan) to sign the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Ban referenced the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, and refused the motion. On 19 July 2007, Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian wrote to request admission into the UN by the name Taiwan. Ban rejected the request.^[55]

Global warming[link]

Former U.S. President George W. Bush talks with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the Republic of Korea. In their early meetings, Ban stressed the importance of confronting global warming.

Ban early on identified global warming as one of the key issues of his administration. In a White House meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush in January, Ban urged Bush to take steps to curb greenhouse gas emissions. On 1 March 2007 in a speech before the UN General Assembly, Ban emphasized his concerns about global warming. Ban stated, "For my generation, coming of age at the height of the Cold War, fear of nuclear winter seemed the leading existential threat on the horizon. But the danger posed by war to all humanity — and to our planet — is at least matched by climate change"^[56] (referring to Global Warming, see P:GW portal). On 3 September 2009 he further emphasized his concerns at the World Climate Conference in Geneva, when he stated, "Our foot is stuck on the accelerator and we are heading towards an abyss".^[57]

Middle East[link]

On Thursday, 22 March 2007, while Ban was taking part in the first stop of a tour of the Middle East, a mortar attack hit just 80 meters (260 ft) from where the Secretary-General was standing, interrupting a press conference in Baghdad's Green Zone, and visibly shaking Ban and others. No one was hurt in the incident.^[58] The United Nations had already limited its role in Iraq after its Baghdad headquarters was bombed in August 2003, killing 22 people. Ban said, however, that he still hoped to find a way for the United Nations to "do more for Iraqi social and political development."^[59]

On his trip, Ban visited Egypt, Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, where Ban attended a conference with leaders of the Arab League and met for several hours with Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the Sudanese president who had resisted UN peacekeepers in Darfur.^[54] While Ban met with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, he declined to meet with Ismail Haniya of Hamas.^[60]

Ban Ki-moon criticized Israel on 10 March 2008 for planning to build housing units in a West Bank settlement, saying the decision conflicts with "Israel's obligation under the road map" for Middle East peace.^[61]

During a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday, 7 January 2009, Ban called for an immediate end to fighting in the Gaza Strip. He criticized both sides, Israel for bombarding Gaza and Hamas for firing rockets into Israel.^[62]

Although the 2009 Iranian presidential election was widely disputed, Ban Ki-moon sent a traditional congratulation message ^[63] to the Iranian president upon his inauguration. He kept silent over the request of Shirin Ebadi to visit^[64] Iran after the crackdown on peaceful post-election protests by the Iranian police – an event that was perceived by some as a crime against humanity .^[65] More than 4000 people were arrested and nearly 70 were killed, some while being held in prison.^[66] In another incident, several prominent intellectuals including Akbar Ganji, Hamid Dabashi, Noam Chomsky went on a three-day hunger strike in front of the UN. The incident was followed by an official request^[67] by more than 200 intellectuals, human rights activists and reformist politicians in Iran for the UN reaction. Ban Ki-moon however did not take any action to stop the violence in Iran.

On 9 May 2012 Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon expressed his concern about the condition of the Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli prisons.^[68]

Darfur[link]

Ban took the first foreign trip of his term to attend the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in January 2007 as part of an effort to reach out to the Group of 77.^[40] He repeatedly identified Darfur as the top humanitarian priority of his administration.^[54] Ban played a large role, with several face-to-face meetings with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, in convincing Sudan to allow UN peacekeepers to enter the Darfur region. On 31 July 2007 the United Nations Security Council approved sending 26,000 UN peacekeepers into the region to join 7,000 troops from the African Union. The resolution was heralded as a major breakthrough in confronting the Darfur conflict (although the United States labeled the conflict a "genocide," the United Nations has declined to do so). The first phase of the peacekeeping mission began in October 2007.^[69]

Myanmar[link]

Ban Ki-moon flew to Myanmar on 25 May 2008 to guide a conference with international agencies aimed at boosting donations for the nation, which was struck by Cyclone Nargis on 2 May 2008. The conference was initiated after Ban had met with Than Shwe, the leading figure of Myanmar's government 23 May 2008. Ban toured the devastation—especially in the hard-hit Irrawaddy Delta—23 May 2008 and 24 May 2008. Myanmar officials agreed to allow the Yangon International Airport to be used as a logistical hub for aid distribution.^[70]

Campaign for second term as Secretary-General: 2011[link]

On 6 June 2011, Ban Ki-moon formally announced his candidacy for a second consecutive term^[5] as Secretary-General of the United Nations. He announced his candidacy at a press conference, following a meeting with the Asian group of countries at the United Nations. Ban Ki-moon's first mandate as the Secretary-General was set to end on 31 December 2011.^[71] The five permanent Security Council members supported his candidacy. There was no declared rival for the post.^[72]

On 17 June 2011, he received the recommendation of the Security Council by a unanimous vote,^[73] and, on 21 June, his nomination was confirmed by a unanimous^[6] acclamation vote at the United Nations General Assembly.^[74]

His new five-year term as Secretary-General commenced on 1 January 2012^[75] and will end on 31 December 2016.^[5]

Honors and awards[link]

• Ban Ki-moon was awarded the Order of Service Merit by the Government of the Republic of Korea on three occasions: in 1975, 1986 and 2006.^[22]
• For his accomplishments as an envoy, he received the Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria in 2001.
• He was bestowed the Grand Cross of Rio Branco by the government of Brazil.
• He was bestowed the Gran Cruz del Sol by the government of Peru.
• He was bestowed a Doctor Honoris Causa by the National University of San Marcos, the main university in Peru and the oldest of the Americas (2011).
• He was bestowed a Doctor of Laws Degree Honoris Causa by the University of the Philippines College of Law, the national university of the country, in 2008.
• He was honored with James A. Van Fleet Award by the Korea Society in New York City for his contributions to friendship between the United States and the Republic of Korea.^[76]

Controversy[link]

According to The Washington Post, "some U.N. employees and delegates" expressed resentment at Ban's perceived favoritism in the appointment of South Korean nationals in key posts. Previous U.N. chiefs such as Kurt Waldheim (Austria), Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (Peru) and Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt) brought small teams of trusted aides or clerical workers from their country's Foreign Ministry. But according to "some officials" in the Post story, Ban has gone further, boosting South Korea's presence in U.N. ranks by more than 20 percent during his first year in office. In response, Ban and his aides have claimed that allegations of favoritism are wrong, and that some of the harshest criticisms against him have undercurrents of racism.^[77] He said that the South Korean nationals he had appointed — including Choi Young-jin, who has served as a high-ranking official in the United Nations' peacekeeping department — are highly qualified for their positions. Others such as Donald P. Gregg, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea say the complaints are driven by envy, "I think being from South Korea, and people have growing respect for South Korea, that's a great enhancement for the secretary general. If he brings along talented people who (whom) he knows very well, I think that's also a plus." U.N. records show that South Korea, the organization's eleventh-largest financial contributor, had 54 South Korean nationals assigned to its mission six months before Ban took over the top U.N. post. ^[77]

Former U.N. Under Secretary Inga-Britt Ahlenius denounced Ban Ki Moon after resigning her post in 2010, calling him reprehensible.^[78]

Question of bias[link]

During the ROKS Cheonan sinking saga, he took the unusual step of demanding action against North Korea for the alleged sinking of a vessel from his country. This move was perceived^{[by whom?]} as unusual because it was rare for any Secretary-General—and particularly Ban Ki-moon—to comment on the Security Council taking action on a particular issue as his office had, in the past, tended to be extremely deferential to the Security Council.^[79]

References[link]