2016 Eisaku Sato Essay Contest
“Considering the multiple and pressing challenges the United Nations
faces today, what is the proper role of the Secretary-General as top
international public servant? Discuss the required qualities and
discipline of a Secretary-General in view of the practices and
achievements of the successive Secretary–Generals.”
Name :
Affiliation :
Age :
Gender :
Nationality :
Mailing Address :
Email Address :
Telephone Number :
Fax Number :
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Table of Contents
1.0 Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2
2.0 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3
2.1 United Nations (UN) ………………………………………………………………………………………… 3
2.2 The Secretariat ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
2.3 The Secretary-General …………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
3.0 The Challenges United Nation (UN) faced today …………………………………………………….. 6
3.1 Maintaining International Peace and Security ………………………………………………….. 6
3.2 Promotion and protection Human Rights …………………………………………………………. 6
3.3 Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance Effort ………………………………………………. 7
4.0 The proper role of Secretary-General …………………………………………………………………….. 9
4.1 Administrative …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 9
4.2 Human Resources ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 9
4.3 Peacekeeping …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10
4.4 Mediation ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 11
5.0 The required qualities and discipline of a Secretary-General………………………………….. 12
5.1 Resilience ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 12
5.2 Moral Courage ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 12
5.3 Political Competence ……………………………………………………………………………………… 13
5.4 Innovative …………………………..…………………………………………………………………………. 13
5.5 A Visionary of Sorts ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 13
5.6 Good negotiation skills …………………………………………………………………………………… 14
5.7 Charismatic leader …………………………………………………………………………………………. 14
5.8 Practical Intelligence ……………………………………………………………………………………… 14
6.0 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 15
References ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 16
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1.0 Abstract
The United Nations (UN) is an international organization of sovereign states and
found in 1945 where created in the wake of World War II. UN containing nearly every country
in the world but only independent states may become one of the members of UN. It is currently
made up of 193 Members States.
The Secretariat is one of the crucial organs of the UN and the head of the United
Nations Secretariat is the Secretary-General. The Secretary-General is a symbol of United
Nations ideals and a spokesperson for the interests of the world’s peoples, in particular the poor
and vulnerable among them. The current Secretary-General, and the eighth occupant of the
post, is Mr. Ban Ki-moon of the Republic of Korea, who took office on 1 January 2007.
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(Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, 2014). It is best suited to a person who is well organized,
has developed administrative skills and has appropriate, but not means elaborate, secretarial
assistance because it requires sustained commitment and demanding in its necessary attention
to detail.
A few of challenges the United Nations faces today have been carried out. One of the
challenges is to maintain the international peace and security. To keeping the international
peace, the UN only focuses on solving global issues, instead of resolving conflicts among
country. Next, promoting and protection human right is a challenges of the UN also. The global
human rights challenges such as disabilities, rights of women and children. Coordination of
Humanitarian Assistance Effort also one of the challenges that the UN faced today, where the
number of people affected by humanitarian crises around the world has increase and almost
doubled in the past decade.
The needs of qualities and discipline of a Secretary-General which required
resilience, moral courage, political competence, innovative and a visionary of sorts.
These should take in the consideration as it was importance for UN to build a better future.
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(Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, 2014)
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2.0 Introduction
2.1 United Nations (UN)
The United Nations (UN) is an international organization of sovereign states and
founded in 1945 where created in the wake of World War II. UN containing nearly every
country in the world but only independent states may become one of the members of UN.
Headquarter of the UN in New York and it is currently made up of 193 Members States.
The UN provides an opportunity for its member to discuss global issues which
affect them both individually and collectively because it aims to look for a useful solutions to
issues, conflicts and crises in a peaceful manner. The UN Charter is a set of effective
guidelines used by the independent states of the world which it explains the rights and
responsibilities of member states.
In addition, The UN also provides a platform and forum for the independent states
of the world to express their point of views in the General Assembly, the Security Council,
the Economic and Social Council, and other bodies and committees. Throughout the dialogue
between its members, and by hosting negotiations, the Organization has become a platform to
seek approaches to accomplish agreement and solve problems together.
The purpose of the UN which are contained in Article 1 of the UN Charter. Firstly, to
develop friendly relations among nations according the principle of equal rights and
self-determination of peoples. Secondly is to maintain international peace and security,
where its takes to prevent and removal of threats to the peace. Thirdly, to achieve
international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, or
humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights. Last but
not least, the purpose of the UN is to be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in
the attainment of these common ends.
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(UNA-UK, Model UN, n.d.)
2.2 The Secretariat
The Secretariat is an international staff working in duty stations around the world which
carries out the diverse day-to-day work of the organization to cohesion each other. The duties
carried out by the Secretariat are as varied as the problems. It may came from administering
peacekeeping operations to mediating international disputes, or from social trends and
problems to prepare studies on human rights and sustainable development. Secretariat staff
have the responsible to organize international conferences on issues of worldwide concern,
interpret speeches and translate documents into the Organization’s official languages.
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The Secretariat is one of the principal organs of the UN and where the number of staff
around 8,900 people under the regular budget drawn from 170 countries. The head of the
United Nations Secretariat is the Secretary-General. It is organized followed by the
departmental lines. Each department having their own responsibility and action in their duty
area.
2.3 The Secretary-General
The Secretary-General is a symbol of United Nations ideals and a spokesperson for
the interests of the world’s peoples. The UN Charter described the secretary-general as the
