Secretariat Of The United Nations

Secretariat of the United Nations, administrative organ composed of a secretary general and such staff as the Organization may require, according to the United Nations Charter.

The secretary general, appointed for a five-year term by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council (see Security Council, United Nations), is the chief administrative official of the UN and, under Article 99 of the charter, may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter that seems to threaten international peace and security. From the very beginning of the UN, this provision has given the secretary general a measure of executive authority; this led, in turn, to the dissatisfaction of the Soviet Union with the first two chief officials of the UN. The first secretary general was Trygve Lie of Norway, who, under relentless Soviet pressure, was forced to resign in November 1952. He was succeeded in April 1953 by Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden, who was reelected five years later. Hammarskjold was also sharply challenged by the Soviet Union over the UN intervention in the crisis in the Republic of the Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1960-61. He died in an airplane crash in the Congo on September 17, 1961. On November 3, the assembly appointed U Thant of Burma (now known as Myanmar) as acting secretary general; he was then elected, and in 1966 reelected, as secretary general. When his second term expired in 1971, he was succeeded by Kurt Waldheim of Austria, who was reelected for a second term in 1976. In 1982 Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru succeeded Waldheim, serving for two terms but declining a third was active in peacekeeping missions and humanitarian relief efforts after such disasters as the earthquakes in Guatemala and Nicaragua. He was succeeded in 1992 by Boutros Boutros Ghali of Egypt. Boutros-Ghali served from 1992 to 1996, but the United States vetoed his election to a second term. He was succeeded in 1997 by Kofi Annan of Ghana.

In 1997 the General Assembly, on Annans recommendation, established the new position of deputy secretary general. The deputy secretary general is appointed by the secretary general and assists in the management and leadership of the Secretariat. The first person to serve as deputy secretary general was Louise Frechette, Canadas deputy minister of national defense until her appointment to the UN post in 1998. The staff of the UN is appointed by the secretary general, who selects these international civil servants partly on the basis of their competence and integrity and partly in such a way that the composition of the Secretariat reflects the geographical variety of the UN itself. UN officials are responsible only to that organization; they may not seek or receive instructions from any government or other authority. The Secretariat is organized into various departments, including offices dealing with peace and security, economic and social affairs, development, humanitarian ...