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Backgrounder: The Role of the UN Secretary-General

Council on Foreign Relations

Author: Carin Zissis, Staff Writer
January 5, 2007

Introduction

As the UN transitions from the leadership of one secretary-general to another, Ghana’s Kofi A. Annan has been feted for his commitment to human rights and UN reform. However, a tumultuous relationship with the United States over the Iraq War and the oil-for-food scandal also marred his tenure. While a candidate for the post, South Korea’s former foreign minister Ban Ki-moon said United Nations “needs to be reenergized to live up to the growing expectations of the international community.” Now he hopes to put those words into practice and further define a post that still lacks a job description.

What is the UN secretary-general?

At the time the United Nations was established in 1945, the UN Charter described the secretary-general broadly as the “chief administrative officer.” Beyond that, the type of leader needed, how to select the candidate, and the person’s length of tenure were left open to interpretation, explains Brian Urquhart, former undersecretary-general, in an article for Foreign Affairs. In the book Secretary or General?, Simon Chesterman and Thomas M. Franck note that the person in the post is sometimes treated as “an errand boy and punching bag,” expected to be at once an independent political force and a UN servant.

Despite the broad and vague requirements of the job, some informal norms are observed in appointments for the post. Secretary-generals usually come from countries considered small- to medium-sized neutral powers, are career diplomats, and serve no more than two five-year terms. Regional rotation also is observed, with nationals of the five permanent members of the Security Council—the United States, China, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom—ineligible.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2007 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.