United Nations - UN The Secretariat

The Secretariat is headed by the Secretary General of the Secretariat who is appointed by the General Assembly based on recommendations of the Security Council. The position of Secretary General is one of huge importance as he/she heads the whole organization as well. He/She is usually someone from a neutral state and has to be backed by all 5 permanent members of the UN. The Secretary General who is the Chief Administrative Officer also, performs the following functions:

1. The Secretary General is the Chief Administrative Officer of the United Nations.

2. The Secretary General acts in the capacity of Chief Administrative Officer of the Organization in all meetings of the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council and of the Trusteeship Council and performs such other functions as are entrusted to him by these organs.

 

 

3. Secretary General makes annual report of the General Assembly on the work of the Organization. The Annual Session of the General Assembly begins with the discussion of the report of the Secretary General on the work of the Organization as a whole.

4. The Secretary General may bring to the notice of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion threatens the maintenance of international peace and security.

5. The Secretary General gets collected all the statistics in regard to the economic condition of the whole world and submits those datas to the Economic and Social Council.

However, Preparatory Commission's report listed six functions to be performed by the Secretary General which are:

1. General administration;

2. Technical functions;

3. Financial function;

4. The organization and administration of the secretariat;

5. Political functions;

6. Representational functions.

Position of Secretary General is very diplomatic in nature. He is often seen as a peace keeping agent because of the powers granted to him under Article 98-100 of the Charter. Since the beginning, role of Secretary General has been of the nature of a problem solver which was proved in many instances in contemporary world.   
 

 

Secretary General is often considered the face of UN. He speaks for and represents the interests and actions of UN entirely in the public eye. This is a very dynamic job where one has to be absolutely impartial and neutral. Secretary General leads and ensures the peace keeping motives of UN are achieved. UN is now a biggest international brand and something which is no longer a choice for any country. Its peacekeeping missions have changed millions of lives and the Secretary General can be easily called the most powerful international figure in the world.

With respect to Article 96(2) of the UN Charter, the General Assembly has authorized the Trusteeship Council, Economic and Social Council, the Interim Committee of the General Assembly and the Committee of the Application for Review of Administrative Tribunal Judgments as well as 14 specialized agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency to request advisory opinions of the International Court of Justice. Secretary General Boutros Ghali offered an all round plan to make United Nations work towards the goal of peace keeping in a diverified and deeper manner. Secretary General's plan kept into consideration peacemaking, peace keeping, post conflict peace building and preventive diplomacy which expanded the role and duties of Secretary General. He proposed for the following:

1. Measures to increase fact-finding and build good faith between states;

2. Establishment of an early warning system for assessing possible threats to peace;

3. Identification by the council of economic and social situations that might pose a threat to international peace and security;

4. Creation of a new technique - 'preventive deployment' - whereby UN forces could be sent to an area to deter cross-border attacks or prevent hostilities within a country, rather than wait until armed conflict had occurred; and

5. Consideration of dematerialized zones in a preventive, rather than post-conflict context to separate potential belligerents. Such zones would serve as symbols of international community's concern that conflict could be prevented.