UN sets selection process for Secretary-General

The UN has set the selection process in motion for a new Secretary-General who will take over on January 1, 2017, raising hope of a transparent selection process.
Mr Mogens Lykketoft, President of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, in a statement outlined some of the selection processes.
Lykketoft’s statement also emphasised the need for the best possible candidate for the job.
“Last December, the President of the Security Council and I set the selection process in motion by issuing a call for candidates to be presented as early as possible.
“We outlined the central features of the process. We pointed out some of the key criteria for the position.
“To date, seven candidates have been presented and their biographies and related information are now publicly available,” he said.
According to him, the position of the UN secretary-general is often spoken of as the most impossible job in the world due to the enormous challenges confronting the world.
The UN needs to be an organisation that needs to adapt to the challenges and new goals the world is facing.
“In its 70 year history, the UN, for all its flaws, has demonstrated that it can rise to such challenges.
“But to do so today, it must secure the best possible candidate through this year’s process of selection and appointment of the next secretary-general,” he said.
According to him, the new secretary-general must be “a person with strong moral courage and integrity.
“The world’s top diplomat; must use his independence, impartiality and good offices to prevent conflict, broker peace and stand-up for human rights.’’
Lykketoft added that the new scribe of the UN must be “a person with political stature and strong leadership skills.
“Must be a person with the authority to bring to the attention of the UN Security Council, any matter which in her opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.
“As the chief administrative officer of the UN, the secretary-general must create a culture of integrity, fairness, competence and efficiency right across the UN family.
“The secretary-general must also show efficiency to oversee a huge organisation with a budget of approximately 10 billion U.S. dollars, a staff of over 40,000 and 41 peace operations worldwide,” he said.
He said the secretary-general must be a person with strong inter-personal and communication skills, able to navigate smoothly in our increasingly multi-polar world and drive a global transition to sustainable development.
He, however, regretted what he termed “an archaic selection process” over the years of UN secretary-general.
“One might think, therefore, that the process for choosing the secretary-general would be as vigorous, inclusive and transparent as possible. But to date this has not been the case.
“The result: Recommendations negotiated behind closed doors – primarily by the five permanent members of the Security Council; eight secretaries-general, not one of whom has been female,’’ he said.
He said the UN Charter was clear on the respective roles of the Security Council and the General Assembly in the selection and appointment process and must be adhered to.
“But recent changes to the process itself, agreed to by all 193 members of the General Assembly, provide us with a genuine opportunity to make it more transparent, more robust, more inclusive and ultimately, more effective.
“As President of the Assembly, it is my job to ensure that those changes are implemented,” he said.