UNITED NATIONS: SOUTH WANTS TO DECIDE ON NEXT UN CHIEF
Thalif Deen
NEW YORK - The five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- have traditionally exercised, or threatened to exercise, their veto powers to assert their authority in ultimately deciding who should be the secretary-general of the United Nations, come election time.
The 15-member Security Council, which also includes 10 rotating non-permanent members playing a marginal role, recommends one candidate, and the 191-member General Assembly meekly rubber stamps the decision.
But a proposed resolution, initiated by India, is aimed at breaking that longstanding tradition, and perhaps depriving the five big powers of their ultimate authority to decide on the next chief administrative officer of the world body.
A one-page draft resolution, currently being circulated, calls on the Security Council to provide a slate of "two or more well-qualified candidates for the consideration of the General Assembly".
"Both nomination and appointment (of the secretary-general) should be discussed at closed meetings, and a vote in either the Security Council or the General Assembly, if taken, should be by secret ballot," according to the draft.
The proposed resolution was circulated at a luncheon meeting of ambassadors from the 114 developing countries that comprise the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the largest single political coalition at the United Nations. The luncheon was hosted by India.
The political thrust of the resolution is to shift the decision-making power -- in the election of the next secretary-general -- from the Security Council to the General Assembly.
India is pushing NAM, chaired by Malaysia, to take a key role in the initiative. At a meeting held at the Malaysian Mission Wednesday, and attended by several NAM delegations and China, it was agreed that NAM would set up a working group to study and improve the draft text submitted by India.
"The next step would be for NAM to reach out to others in the General Assembly to come on board," a Third World diplomat told IPS. But the more important question, he pointed out, is whether the Security Council is willing to abdicate its powers to the General Assembly in the final selection of the secretary-general.
The current incumbent, Kofi Annan of Ghana, completes his second five-year term in December. The Asian countries claim that, according to a system of geographical rotation, it is Asia's turn to field candidates to succeed Annan.
The three declared Asian candidates so far are: Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala of Sri Lanka; Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai; and South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon.
The draft resolution also "reaffirms that in the course of the identification and appointment of the most effective and qualified candidate for the post of secretary-general, due regard shall continue to be given to regional rotation and gender equality."
Don Kraus, executive vice president of the Washington-based Citizens for Global Solutions, told IPS that the draft is a positive step in the right direction.
"What's most important is that the process for choosing a new secretary-general is transparent and open, and not the result of secret smoky room negotiations."
Any slate offered by the General Assembly should keep in mind regional and geographical representation, gender equity, and above all, getting the right person to do this incredibly important job, Kraus said.
In addition to having a greater say in choosing the secretary-general, the General Assembly should give the UN's chief executive the authority needed to do the job correctly, he added.
Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based UN Watch, thinks "the Indian proposal is superfluous, unless its actual goal is to make some kind of a political statement".
"The fact is that Article 97 of the UN Charter expressly provides that the General Assembly has the formal powe (END)
