The Foreign Service Journal, September 2006

World Summit and is already in progress. This reform agenda includes: • Solidifying the organization of the new Peacebuilding Commission to strengthen the secretary-gener- al’s capacity for mediation and to serve as the organizing mechanism to coordinate preventive and post- conflict activities; • Following through on a com- prehensive convention against terrorism that universally condemns it in all forms and also significantly strengthens the U.N.’s counterterrorism capacity; • Strengthening the newly-established Human Rights Council to reinvigorate the U.N.’s commitment to pro- moting human rights, a function largely discredited in recent years under its predecessor, the much-criticized Human Rights Commission; • Moving forward on member-states’ recognition that there is an obligation to protect suffering populations under certain conditions, particularly genocide, if the government in question is unable to do so or is itself inflicting the suffering; • Continuing the implementation of a wide range of management reforms in the secretariat and beyond, including increasing the U.N.’s oversight capacity, updat- ing all mandates older than five years and overhauling policies on budget, finance and human resources; • Maintaining the momentum toward the achieve- ment of the Millennium Development Goals — a set of eight clearly-defined, time-bound and measurable devel- opment targets that provide a common development strategy for the international community on issues rang- ing from universal primary education and a reduction in child mortality to environmental sustainability and the promotion of gender equality — by 2015; and • Revitalizing the Economic and Social Council to fol- low up on relevant outcomes of major U.N. conferences and develop a mechanism for monitoring member-states’ progress toward fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals. Throughout our discussions, participants noted that the deputy secretary-general position has not been uti- lized to its full advantage. (It is worth noting that there is no mention of a deputy anywhere in the U.N. Charter; in fact, the position was not created until 1996, a half-cen- tury into the organization’s history.) Some participants advocated em- powering the deputy with a real line of authority on management and operations, to enable the sec- retary-general to focus on the ever- growing political and policy dimen- sions of the U.N.’s work. Pro- ponents of this view noted that, given the realities of the job, defin- ing the secretary-general as chief political officer and the deputy as a chief operating offi- cer makes great sense. Still, some disagreed, maintaining that when assessing the qualities of candidates for the post of secretary-general, the emphasis should be on management skills, not political skills. Recommended Improvements The discussion above provides a snapshot of the debate surrounding the search for the next secretary-gen- eral. The recommendations that emerged from the UNA-USA consultations would not require any changes to the U.N. charter and could be implemented during the current selection process. They are as follows: • In selecting the next secretary-general, the overrid- ing goal should be to appoint the most qualified man or woman for the job. In other words, qualifications should hold primacy over all other considerations. • The secretary-general should first and foremost be a highly capable diplomat with outstanding leadership and negotiating skills. His or her moral authority should be beyond reproach because, ultimately, the secretary-gen- eral’s power flows from the respect commanded by the individual holding the office. • The secretary-general should be held accountable for the overall management of the organization, but he or she should be able to entrust day-to-day management responsibilities to the deputy and other senior staff. • In the U.N.’s 60-year history, the organization’s top post has never been held by a woman. In light of this, gender equality should be viewed as an important criteri- on in the selection process, and an effort should be made to identify qualified female candidates. • A candidate should not be accepted simply because it is his or her region’s “turn” to hold the position. The unwritten principle of regional rotation has helped to somewhat mitigate the arbitrariness of the selection F O C U S 44 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 6 In selecting the next secretary-general, qualifications should hold primacy over all other considerations.