TAMIL OPINION :

Pre-condition needed for the post of Secretary General of the United Nations
[By S. V. Kirubaharan, France [TCHR]]

Today's world has seen two World Wars, many frontier disputes, many ethnic, racial and religious wars and others. These horrible bloody conflicts made world leaders realize the importance and necessity of a new world body.

The United Nations (UN), the Commonwealth, regional bodies like the European Union (EU), Council of Europe (CoE), Organization of American States (OAS), Organization of African Unity (OAU), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and many other bodies, were established, amongst other purposes, to maintain peace and security through promotion and protection of human rights. These international bodies started with clear motives to serve the world citizen regardless of racial, ethnic, color differences.

When we look back at the history of the United Nations, so far there have been seven Secretary Generals including the present one. The first two Secretary Generals, Mr. Trygve Lie and Dag Hammarskjold came from Norway and Sweden respectively. Mr. Dag Hammarskjold died in an unfortunate plane accident in 1961. Mr. U. Thant of Burma, who was at the time holding the position of the Deputy Secretary General, became the Secretary General (1961-1971). He was the first Asian to be the Secretary General of the United Nations. Mr. U. Thant was a career diplomat and at that time Burma (Mynamaar) was not facing serious political problems.

Soon after Mr. U.Thant’s period was over, Mr. Kurt Waldheim of Austria (1972-1981) became the Secretary General. When he finished his term of service with the United Nations, he became the President of Austria. Mr. Waldheim, also a career diplomat, became absorbed himself in politics at a later stage. Mr. Perez de Cuellar of Peru who was a career diplomat became Secretary General in 1982 and served until 1991. In 1992 Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt became the Secretary General. He served the shortest period (until 1996) as Secretary General of the United Nations. Soon after Boutros-Ghali, the present Secretary General Mr. Kofi Anann of Ghana was elected, who has been serving until today. Mr. Kofi Annan was the first UN staff member to reach the UN top position.

As a part of evolution things are changing in every aspect in today’s world. In the world today politics plays a major role within international institutions and the top positions within these world bodies are about to fall into the hands of the wrong politicians.

When one looks at the mechanisms of the United Nations, there are hundreds of UN Conventions in the system to protect the human rights of the people of the World. These conventions are for the member states of the UN to sign and ratify. Unfortunately there are member countries that do not care either to sign or ratify the UN conventions. But there are politicians from those countries yearning for the top positions in the United Nations. In brief, a person who cannot lobby his own country to sign the UN conventions is eager to be in the top position of the UN! There are personalities, from countries where racial riots, ethnic conflict, armed conflict and bloody conflicts are taking place, who are also interested in the UN top position! Obviously these personalities look for these posts for the benefit of only their own country and their prestige rather than for the benefit of the United Nations!

The post of the Commonwealth General Secretary in recent elections, escaped falling into the hands of the former Foreign minister of Sri Lanka who consistently defended the human rights violators in his own country and justified a draconian economic embargo on an ethnic population.

When one looks at the task of the United Nations, the following, in brief, could be seen as the achievements of the United Nations:

Maintaining peace and security by deploying peace-keeping forces and observer missions in conflicting countries; making peace through meaningful credited negotiations and bringing many peaceful settlements to end regional conflicts; promoting self-determination by playing a greater role in bringing about independence for nations which later became member countries; promoting democracy by enabling people in many countries to participate in free and fair elections; promoting human rights by investigating complaints of human rights abuses in the Human Rights Commission, which has focused world attention on cases of torture, disappearance, and arbitrary detention and has generated international pressure on governments to improve their human rights records; protecting the environment! ; preventing nuclear proliferation; strengthening international law; handing down judicial settlements of major international disputes; providing humanitarian aid to victims of conflict and refugees; alleviating chronic hunger and rural poverty in developing countries; promoting women's rights and improving literacy for women; clearing land mines; empowering the voiceless; improving education; preserving cultural property and many other tasks.

A politician who has bad political influence holding any post in the UN will never be able to truly serve the purposes of the United Nations. Therefore the top post holder and other honorable post holders should be neutral, impartial and should be honest to their conscience. Anyone who has violated human rights, or is a supporter of aggressive states, or advocates violence and inhumanity should be kept well away from these posts.

The Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court (ICC) came into force on 1 July 2002. This is the first permanent international judicial body capable of trying individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. As of September 2003, only 139 countries are signatories and 92 countries have ratified the Rome Statue of the ICC. But there are 191 member countries in the United Nations. What is delaying those countries, which have neither ratified nor signed the Rome statue? Does it mean that there are individuals in their countries who are/were involved in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes?

The United Nations, which passes several resolutions on various subjects around the world, should establish pre-conditions for candidates who wish to contest for the post of General Secretary of the United Nations. The pre-condition should not only be that the candidate comes from a member country but also that the country has signed and ratified important UN conventions including the Rome statue of the International Criminal Court.

This pre-condition would allow the United Nations to continue to have Secretary Generals with integrity as has been the case up to the present day.

S. V. Kirubaharan is the General Secretary for Tamil Centre for Human Rights – (TCHR), located in France.

-: 23-01-2004