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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Secretary-General of the United Nations

show
Other official names

Emblem of the United Nations

Flag of the United Nations

 Incumbent
António Guterres
since 1 January 2017

United Nations Secretariat

Style His Excellency

Type Chief administrative officer

Abbreviation UNSG

Member of Secretariat

General Assembly

Residence Sutton Place, New York City

Seat United Nations Headquarters, New York

City (international territory)

Nominator Security Council

Appointer General Assembly

 Term length Five years, renewable

(traditionally limited to two terms)

Constituting United Nations Charter

instrument

Precursor Secretary-General of the League of Nations

Formation 24 October 1945

First holder Gladwyn Jebb

as acting Secretary-General

Trygve Lie

as first Secretary-General

Deputy Deputy Secretary-General

Website un.org/sg

The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG, SG or SecGen) is the chief

administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations
Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
The role of the secretary-general and of the secretariat is laid out
by Chapter XV (Articles 97 to 101) of the United Nations Charter. However, the
office's qualifications, selection process and tenure are open to interpretation; they
have been established by custom.[1]

Selection and term of office[edit]

See also: United Nations Secretary-General selection
 The Secretariat Building is a 154-metre-tall (505 ft)
skyscraper and the centerpiece of the Headquarters of the United Nations.

The secretary-general is appointed by the General Assembly upon the

recommendation of the Security Council. As the recommendation must come from
the Security Council, any of the five permanent members of the council can veto a
nomination. Most secretaries-general are compromise candidates from middle
powers and have little prior fame.
Unofficial qualifications for the job have been set by precedent in previous
selections. The appointee may not be a citizen of any of the Security Council's five
permanent members.[2] The General Assembly resolution 51/241 in 1997 stated that,
in the appointment of "the best candidate", due regard should be given to regional
(continental) rotation of the appointee's national origin and to gender equality, [3]: 
5 
 although no woman has yet served as secretary-general. All appointees to date
have been career diplomats.[4]
The length of the term is discretionary, but all secretaries-general since 1971 have
been appointed to five-year terms. Every secretary-general since 1961 has been re-
selected for a second term, with the exception of Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who
was vetoed by the United States in the 1996 selection. There is a customary but
unofficial[5] term limit of two full terms, established when China, in the 1981 selection,
cast a record 16 vetoes against a third term for Kurt Waldheim. No secretary-general
since 1981 has attempted to secure a third term.
The selection process is opaque and is often compared to a papal conclave.[6][7] Since
1981, the Security Council has voted in secret in a series of straw polls; it then
submits the winning candidate to the General Assembly for ratification. No candidate
has ever been rejected by the General Assembly, and only once, in 1950, has a
candidate been voted upon despite a UNSC veto. [8]
In 2016, the General Assembly and the Security Council sought nominations and
conducted public debates for the first time. However, the Security Council voted in
private and followed the same process as previous selections, leading the president
of the General Assembly to complain that it "does not live up to the expectations of
the membership and the new standard of openness and transparency". [9]
Powers and duties[edit]
The role of the secretary-general is described as combining the functions and
responsibilities of an advocate, diplomat, civil servant, and chief executive officer.
[10]
 The UN Charter designates the secretary-general as the "chief administrative
officer" of the UN and allows them to perform "such other functions as are entrusted"
by other United Nations organs. The Charter also empowers the secretary-general to
inform the Security Council of "any matter which in his opinion may threaten the
maintenance of international peace and security". These provisions have been
interpreted as providing broad leeway for officeholders to serve a variety of roles as
suited to their preferences, skill set, or circumstances. [4]
The secretary-general's routine duties include overseeing the activities and duties of
the secretariat; attending sessions with United Nations bodies; consulting with world
leaders, government officials, and other stakeholders; and travelling the world to
engage with global constituents and bring attention to certain international issues.
[10]
 The secretary-general publishes an annual report on the work of the UN, which
includes an assessment of its activities and an outline future priorities. The
secretary-general is also the chairman of the United Nations System Chief
Executives Board for Coordination (CEB), a body composed of the heads of all UN
funds, programmes and specialized agencies, which meets twice a year to discuss
substantive and management issues facing the United Nations System.[10]
Many of the secretary-general's powers are informal and left open to individual
interpretation; some appointees have opted for more activist roles, while others have
been more technocratic or administrative. [4] The secretary-general is often reliant
upon the use of their "good offices", described as "steps taken publicly and in
private, drawing upon his independence, impartiality and integrity, to prevent
international disputes from arising, escalating or spreading". [10] Consequently,
observers have variably described the office as the "world's most visible bully pulpit"
or as the "world's moderator".[11][4] Examples include Dag Hammarskjöld's promotion
of an armistice between the warring parties of Arab-Israel conflict, Javier Perez de
Cuellar's negotiation of a ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq War, and U Thant's role in
deescalating the Cuban Missile Crisis.[4]

Residence[edit]
The official residence of the secretary-general is a townhouse at 3 Sutton Place,
Manhattan, in New York City, United States. The townhouse was built for Anne
Morgan in 1921 and donated to the United Nations in 1972. [12]

List of secretaries-general[edit]
Secretary- Politi
N Dates in o Country of o UN regional g Reason of Re
Portrait general cal
o. ffice rigin roup withdrawal f.
(born–died) party
 Acting
Served
Gladwyn 24
Western as acting secr
Jebb October  United Liber
European & etary-general
(1900– 1945 – Kingdom al
others until Lie's
1996) 2 February
election.
1946
– [13]

After World War II, he served as executive secretary of the Preparatory

Commission of the United Nations in August 1945, being appointed Acting
United Nations secretary-general from October 1945 to February 1946 until the
appointment of the first secretary-general, Trygve Lie.

Trygve Lie 2 February

(1896–
1946 – Western
1968) Labo
10  Norway European & Resigned.
ur
November others
1952
1 [14]

Lie, a foreign minister and former labour leader, was recommended by the
Soviet Union to fill the post. After the UN involvement in the Korean War, the
Soviet Union vetoed Lie's reappointment in 1951. The United States
circumvented the Soviet Union's veto and rec