A Better Process, a Stronger UN Secretary-General: How Historic Change Was Forged and What Comes Next

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Terlingen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
The Past ◽  
First Choice ◽  
Historic Change

When on October 13, 2016, the General Assembly appointed by acclamation António Guterres of Portugal as the United Nations’ ninth secretary-general, there was a sense of excitement among the organization's 193 members. For once, so it seemed, they felt they had played an important role not only in choosing the secretary-general but also in appointing a man generally considered to be an outstanding candidate for a position memorably described as “the most impossible job on this earth.” The five permanent, veto-wielding members of the Security Council (Perm Five) still exercised the greatest power in the selection process, as they always had in the past. Yet the candidate chosen appears, surprisingly, not to have been the first choice of either the United States or Russia, two of the Perm Five that until then had effectively chosen the secretary-general between them in an opaque and outdated process. It is doubtful that António Guterres would have been appointed if the General Assembly had not embarked on a novel process to select him.

General Assembly

1967 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 336-510 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Nations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Full Participation ◽  
New States ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
October 17 ◽  
Full Cooperation

The General Assembly held its 21st session, comprising the 1409th–1501st plenary meetings, at UN Headquarters from September 20 to December 20, 1966, during which time it took action on 98 agenda items and adopted 115 resolutions. During the session the Assembly unanimously admitted four new states to UN membership: Guyana on September 20, Botswana and Lesotho on October 17, and Barbados on December 9, 1966. In accordance with a telegram of September 19 from the Ambassador of Indonesia to the United States addressed to the Secretary-General in which he stated that his government had decided to resume full cooperation with the United Nations and to resume participation in its activities starting with the 21st session of the Assembly and upon the Assembly's expression of its agreement to that effect Indonesia resumed full participation in the work of the UN on September 28. The Organization's total membership thereby reached 122 during the session.

Voting in the Security Council and the PLO

1976 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 470-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo Gross
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Member State ◽  
Security Council ◽  
The United States ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Palestine Liberation Organization ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Right

The United States and some other members of the United Nations have been concerned in recent years about the substance of some resolutions of the General Assembly and the procedures by which they were adopted. Their concern was intensified by certain actions at the twenty-ninth session, when the Assembly sustained a ruling of its President with respect to the representation and participation of South Africa in that and future sessions, when it curbed the right of Israel to participate in the debate on the question of Palestine, when it accorded to the representative of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) a treatment usually reserved to the head of a member state, and when it declared by Resolution 3210 (XXIX) of October 14, 1974, “that the Palestinian people is the principal party to the question of Palestine” and invited the PLO “to participate in the deliberations of the General Assembly on the question of Palestine in plenary meetings.”

The United Nations Secretariat—Some Constitutional and Administrative Developments

1955 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxwell Cohen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Employment Policies ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Administrative Tribunal

The personnel difficulties of the United Nations Secretariat, so much dramatized since 1952, have served to focus exceptional attention on the Secretary General and his employment policies, as well as on the constitutional position of the Secretariat, its staff and their relations to the General Assembly and to the Administrative Tribunal. Indeed a substantial literature examining these issues —issues arising, in part, out of the United States’ allegations of “subversive” personnel in the Secretariat—now must be added to the already imposing structure of scholarship dealing with international organizations and officials since their beginnings in the League system and into the United Nations period.

General Assembly

1957 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-102
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Security Council ◽  
The United States ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Special Session ◽  
Draft Resolution

The first emergency special session of the General Assembly, summoned by the Secretary-General in the light of the resolution adopted by the Security Council at its 751st meeting on October 31, 1956, was held from November 1 through 10, 1956 (56Ist–563d, 565th, 566th–567th and 572d plenary meetings), under the presidency of His Excellency Ambassador Rudecindo Ortega (Chile). At the opening of the session the representative of France (de Guiringaud) criticized the principal substantive item of the provisional agenda of the session, which was the “question considered by the Security Council at its 749th and 750th meetings held on October 30, 1956”. Mr. de Guiringaud stated that in his view it was impossible for the letter of the representative of Egypt to the Security Council to be dealt with by the Assembly, since in the Security Council debate on the Egyptian complaint, no draft resolution had been presented, and consequently no vote had been taken; therefore, no lack of unanimity on the part of the permanent members of the Council had been demonstrated. As to the United States draft resolution considered by the Security Council, Mr. de Guiringaud held that it was within the framework of Chapter VI of the Charter, rather than Chapter VII. Therefore, he concluded, the conditions of the “Uniting for Peace” resolution had not been fulfilled, and he made a complete reservation on behalf of his government as to the convening of the special session of the Assembly and as to the validity of any resolution that might be adopted.

Amendments to the Charter of the United Nations

1966 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 430-431
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
The United States ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Social Council ◽  
The United Nations

Amendments to Articles 23, 27, and 61 of the Charter of the United Nations, adopted by the General Assembly on December 17, 1963, came into force on August 31, 1965. The amendment to Article 23 enlarges the membership of the Security Council from eleven to fifteen. The amended Article 27 provides that decisions of the Security Council on procedural matters be made by an affirmative vote of nine members (formerly seven) and on all other matters by an affirmative vote of nine members (formerly seven), including the concurring votes of the five permanent members of the Security Council (China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States). The amendment to Article 61 enlarges the membership of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) from eighteen to 27.

By passing the Security Council: Ambiguous Authorizations to Use Force, Cease-Fires and the Iraqi Inspection Regime

1999 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jules Lobel ◽  
Michael Ratner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
The United States ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Deputy Prime Minister ◽  
Secretary Of State ◽  
Military Campaign

In January and February 1998, various United States officials, including the President, asserted that unless Iraq permitted unconditional access to international weapons inspections, it would face a military attack. The attack was not to be, in Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s words, “a pinprick,” but a “significant” military campaign. U.S. officials, citing United Nations Security Council resolutions, insisted that the United States had the authority for the contemplated attack. Representatives of other permanent members of the Security Council believed otherwise; that no resolution of the Council authorized U.S. armed action without its approval. In late February, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan traveled to Baghdad and returned with a memorandum of understanding regarding inspections signed by himself and the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister. On March 2, 1998, the Security Council, in Resolution 1154, unanimously endorsed this memorandum of understanding.

Report by the Enquiry Commission on the Behaviour of Italian Peace-keeping troops in Somalia

1998 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 375-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Lupi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
The United States ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Safe Environment ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
The Creation

Following the collapse of Somalia into a state of general anarchy after the fall of Siad Barre's regime, the UN Security Council, on 24 April 1992, adopted Resolution 751 with which, under the direction of the Secretary-General, it created the UNOSOM (United Nations Operation in Somalia) mission. The duty of UNOSOM was to supervise both the ceasefire between the fighting factions and the distribution of humanitarian aid.When the situation worsened, the Security Council adopted Resolution 794 on 3 December 1992 under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, authorizing the creation of UNITAF (Unified Task Force) under the command of the United States. UNITAF's mandate was to create a safe environment for humanitarian aid and for reconstruction. With Resolution 814 of 16 March 1993, the Security Council entrusted the UN Secretary-General with the command of operation UNOSOM II, which took over from the international task force directed by the United States and concluded its mandate in 1994.

Trusteeship Council

1948 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 515-517 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
The United States ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
The Third ◽  
Draft Statute ◽  
First Time ◽  
The City

Protection of the City of Jerusalem: The third part of the second session of the Trusteeship Council met from April 21 to May 4, 1948, to consider measures for the protection of the City of Jerusalem and its inhabitants. The USSR sent a representative (Tsarapkin) to the Council for the first time. On March 10, 1948, the Council had passed a resolution stating that the Statute for the City of Jerusalem was in satisfactory form and that the question of its formal approval should be considered by the Council not later than one week before April 29, 1948. In view of the action taken by the General Assembly and the Security Council, the Trusteeship Council, on April 21, carried the proposal of the representative of the United States (Gerig) that the Statute be transmitted to the General Assembly, together with the resolution of March 10, for such further instructions as the Assembly might see fit to give. On April 26, the General Assembly requested the Council to study and report on suitable measures for the protection of Jerusalem and its inhabitants. In consultation with the Mandatory Power and representatives of the Jewish Agency for Palestine and the Arab Higher Committee, the Council considered several proposals. The French delegate' (Garreau) proposed sending a United Nations official to Jerusalem with powers to recruit and organize an international force of 1,000 police, the United States proposed placing Jerusalem under temporary trusteeship, and Australia and the Jewish Agency favored the adoption of the draft Statute of Jerusalem.

General Assembly

1957 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-496
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
United Nations ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
Federal Republic ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
The United States ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
October 17

Seventh United Nations Technical Assistance Conference: At the Seventh UN Technical Assistance Conference, which met at Headquarters on October 17, 1956, under the presidency of Sir Leslie Munro (New Zealand), 63 governments pledged $14,940,000; this sum excluded the amount to be pledged by the United States. Several participating countries, including the Federal Republic of Germany, Indonesia and El Salvador, were unable to announce their contributions at the Conference as negotiations had not been completed

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