Secretary General of the United Nations

Secretary General of the United Nations
Acting Secretary General António Guterres (since January 1, 2017)
Official seat	UN Headquarters , New York City , New York , United States
Term of office	5 years
Nominated by	Security Council
Elected by	General Assembly
Head of	United Nations
Deputy	Amina J. Mohammed (Vice Secretary General)

The Secretary General of the United Nations ( English abbreviation UNSG ) is the chairman of the UN Secretariat , one of the primary organs of the United Nations . The Secretary General is the chief administrative officer of the UN and is therefore primarily responsible for the administration of the UN. In addition, he represents the organization externally. In the self-portrayal of the United Nations, its role is described as "equal parts diplomat and administrator, civil servant and CEO and as a symbol for the United Nations and its ideals".

The current incumbent has been the Portuguese António Guterres since January 1, 2017 .

choice

The UN Secretary General is appointed by the General Assembly for five years on the proposal of the Security Council . Re-election is possible. Usually, the office of Secretary General rotates across the individual continents / geographic regions after two terms of office. However, this rule does not have to be followed.

Trygve Halvdan Lie was appointed as the first official general secretary on February 1, 1946 . Previously, the office had been held provisionally by the British Sir Gladwyn Jebb . The office of Vice Secretary-General has also existed since 1997 (this is currently held by the Nigerian Amina J. Mohammed ). The electoral process is discussed by international experts as opaque and undemocratic. You are calling for a democratic electoral process that involves civil society more closely.

tasks

The Secretary General coordinates the day-to-day work of the UN and takes part in the meetings of the main bodies, with the exception of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) . It reports annually to the General Assembly on its activities. He is responsible for drawing up the budget as well as for carrying out the financial management. He represents the organization internationally and as a whole vis-à-vis the member states of the United Nations . He fulfills his political role, for example, by traveling to crisis areas, holding talks with governments and submitting proposals or peace plans to resolve conflicts. The special representatives appointed by the Secretary General who, as his local representatives, coordinate peace missions and / or the work of the UN on the ground are becoming increasingly important . One of the Secretary-General's primary political tasks is to draw the Security Council's attention to any matter which he believes could endanger peace (Article 99 of the UN Charter ).

The general secretaries made different use of the very imprecisely described competences.

salary

The UN Secretary General receives a gross annual salary of US $ 209,691 (as of 2017).

List of General Secretaries

No.	image	Surname	Term of office	nationality	Remarks
-		Gladwyn Jebb	Oct. 24, 1945 - February 2, 1946	United Kingdom	Acting Secretary General
1		Trygve Halvdan Lie	Feb. 2, 1946 - November 10, 1952	Norway	Resigned
2		Dag Hammarskjold	Apr 10, 1953 - September 18, 1961	Sweden	Was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia)
3		Sithu U Thant	Nov 3, 1961 - December 31, 1971	Burma	Acting Secretary General from November 3, 1961 to November 30, 1962
4th		Kurt Waldheim	Jan. 1, 1972 - December 31, 1981	Austria	China vetoed a third term
5		Javier Pérez de Cuéllar	Jan. 1, 1982 - December 31, 1991	Peru	No application for a third term
6th		Boutros Boutros-Ghali	Jan. 1, 1992 - December 31, 1996	Egypt	United States vetoed a second term
7th		Kofi Annan	Jan. 1, 1997 - December 31, 2006	Ghana	No application for a third term
8th		Ban Ki-moon	Jan. 1, 2007 - December 31, 2016	South Korea	No application for a third term
9		Antonio Guterres	since Jan. 1, 2017	Portugal	Successful re-election for second term of office

List of Vice Secretaries General

image	Surname	Term of office	nationality
	Louise Fréchette	March 2, 1998 - March 31, 2006	Canada
	Mark Malloch Brown	Apr 1, 2006 - December 31, 2006	United Kingdom
	Asha-Rose Migiro	Feb. 1, 2007 - 2012	Tanzania
	Jan Eliasson	July 1, 2012 - December 31, 2016	Sweden
	Amina J. Mohammed	since Jan. 1, 2017	Nigeria

literature

• Simon Chesterman (Ed.): Secretary or General ?: The UN Secretary-General in World Politics . Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-69958-7 ( books.google.com ).
• Josef-Thomas Göller: Advocates of Peace. The UN and its six General Secretaries . JHW Dietz successor, Bonn 1995, ISBN 3-8012-0218-6 .

Web links

• The UN Secretary General ( UN languages : Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish)
• Who will be the Next UN Secretary General? (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ " Equal parts diplomat and advocate, civil servant and CEO, the Secretary-General is a symbol of United Nations ideals "; according to The role of the Secretary-General . United Nations Secretary-General; accessed January 2, 2017.
2. ^ António Guterres appointed next UN Secretary-General by acclamation. In: United Nations News Center. October 13, 2016, accessed October 13, 2016 . 
3. ↑ ipg-journal.de
4. ↑ See also information from the BPB: Secretary General
5. ↑ un.org Information on the salary levels in the UN including that of the Secretary General (Excel document)
6. ↑ United Nations: António Guterres remains UN Secretary General for another five years. In: ZEIT ONLINE. June 18, 2021, accessed June 23, 2021 . 
7. ^ Louise Fréchette, Former Deputy-Secretary-General. United Nations , accessed April 2, 2017 . 
8. ↑ Mark Malloch Brown, Former Deputy-Secretary-General. United Nations , accessed April 2, 2017 . 
9. ↑ Asha-Rose Migiro, Former Deputy-Secretary-General. United Nations , accessed April 2, 2017 . 
10. ↑ Jan Eliasson, Former Deputy-Secretary-General. United Nations , accessed April 2, 2017 . 
11. ↑ Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General. United Nations , accessed April 2, 2017 .