Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law Volume 7 | Issue 1 1974 Dag Hammarskjold and U Thant: The volutE ion of Their Office M. G. Kaladharan Nayar Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil Part of the International Law Commons Recommended Citation M. G. Kaladharan Nayar, Dag Hammarskjold and U Thant: The Evolution of Their Office, 7 Case W. Res. J. Int'l L. 36 (1974) Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil/vol7/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Journals at Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law by an authorized administrator of Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. [Vol. 7: 36 Dag Hammarsk6i1d and U Thant: The Evolution of Their Office* M. G. Kaladharan Nagar Introduction '"(THE UNITED NATIONS is but a reflection of the interna- ,tional community, and in effect its success or failure is the success or failure of the international community." This has been one of the recurring themes in the various public statements and speeches' of U Thant in his ca- pacity as the Secretary-General THE AUTHOR: M. G. KALADHARAN of the United Nations. On the NAYAR (B.Sc., Kerala University; M.A., Panjab University; LL.B., University of other hand, his predecessor Dag Delhi; LL.M., J.S.D., University of Cali- Hammarskj6ld in his Copenha- fornia at Berkeley) is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Center for the Study of gen speech" of May 2, 1959, Law and Society, University of Califor- pictured the United Nations as nia, Berkeley. Mr. Kaladharan is also the author of an article, The Right of having "an existence and pos- Asylum in International Law, 17 ST. sibilities of action independent LouIs L.J. 17 (1972). of the will of the member gov- ernments and the policy of the member states themselves." I [e spoke of the United Nations' "whole" as in certain respects "more than the sum of its parts." He asserted that the Organization had increasingly developed "an inde- pendent position," rooted in "the existence of an opinion indepen- dent of partisan interests and dominated by the objectives indicated in the United Nations Charter." Arising from these two statements of the two Secretaries-General, one may ask the crucial question: is the United Nations, as an international organization, merely the in- strument of national foreign policies or does it influence world pol- itics in its own right? An important explanatory key to this ques- * The author is indebted to Professor Frank C. Newman, School of Law, University of California, Berkeley for his encouragement and guidance in the research for this article. ' U Thant, People Are Asking "Why?" - An address delivered to the Council on Foreign Relations in Chicago on May 5, 1971, in UN MONTHLY CHRONICLE, June, 1971, at 82-83. See also U Thant's Press Conference in Dakar, Senegal, on Jan. 4, 1970, in UN MONTHLY CHRONICLE, Feb., 1970, at 35; U Thant's Press Conference at Accra, Ghana on Jan. 9, 1970, in UN MONTHLY CHRONICLE, Feb., 1970, at 42-43. 2 Dag Hammarskj6ld, Do We Need the United Nations? - An Affirmative An- swer, An address before the Students Association, Copenhagen, Denmark, May 2, 1959, in UNITED NATIONS REVIEW, June, 1959, at 24-25. 1974] HAMMARSKJOLD AND THANT tion is the executive head of the Organization - the Secretary-Gen- eral himself, the focal point of this inquiry. The question posed above has both ontological and systemic im- plications. The ontological implication is whether the United Na- tions has an existence and an essence of its own, i.e., a life of its own. The systemic implication concerns how an international system based upon nation-states may become transformed in the direction of greater integration, from being a forum of multilateral diplomacy into something which is more than the sum of its inputs, capable of bringing anarchic interstate relations under a common regulatory power. The hypothesis is that the political role of the executive head of the Organization is especially important in the process of such a transformation. Thus, it is the purpose of this article: (1) to set forth the devel- oping political role of the Secretary-General of the United Nations; (2) to consider the factors influencing such development; (3) to explain the impact of his enlarged political role on the United Na- tions; and (4) to indicate its implications for the development of international law. It is proposed to consider the legacy left by Dag Hammarskjbld, and U Thant's role in building on the Office he in- herited from Hammarskj6ld.' The importance of the Secretariat is emphasised by the fact that it is listed in Article 7 of the Charter as one of the "principal or- gans" of the United Nations, thus placing it, in this respect, in a po- sition of equality with the General Assembly, the three Councils and the International Court of Justice rather than in a position of de- pendence or subservience. The acquisition of such status entails sig- nificant consequences, for it is the principal organs which are pri- marily responsible for the attainment of the objectives of the United Nations and for the observance of the principles of the Charter. The Secretary-General, thus, appears as one of the organizational elements shouldering and sharing the responsibility for the constitu- tional behavior of Member States.4 The Preparatory Commission of the United Nations emphasised the "key position of the Secretariat in the United Nations." 5 The Report of the Fifth (Administrative and Budgetary) Committee to 3 It is not proposed to consider the present Secretary-General's role in this respect at this stage. 4 Cf. Alexandrowicz, The Secretary-Generalof the United Nations, 11 INT'L & COM- PARATIVE L. Q. 1112 (1962). 5 Report of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations, PC/20, Dec. 23, 1945, at 84. CASE W. RES. J. INT'L L. [Vol. 7: 36 the General Assembly indicates that it was guided by this consider- ation: "to enable a man of eminence and high attainment to accept and maintain the position" of the Secretary-General. 6 The Prepara- tory Commission recognized that "his choice of staff - more par- ticularly of higher staff - and his leadership will largely determine the character and efficiency of the Secretariat as a whole,"' and that "the degree in which the objects of the Charter can be realized will be largely determined by the manner in which the Secretariat per- forms its task."8 In addition to the constitutional status of being one of the "prin- cipal organs," there are explicit provisions in the Charter to guaran- tee the independence of the Secretary-General and his staff. Article 100, paragraph 1, provides: In the performance of their duties the Secretary-General and the staff shall not seek or receive instructions from any government or from any other authority external to the Organization. They shall refrain from any action which might reflect on their position as international officials responsible only to the Organization. In Article 97 the Secretary-General is described as the "chief admin- istrative officer of the Organization," making it a basic Charter re- quirement, rather than a matter left to the discretion of the other organs, that the administration of the Organization shall be left to the Secretary-General. Article 97 is of fundamental importance for the status of the Secretariat. Together with Articles 100 and i01," it creates for the Secretariat a position, administratively, of full po- litical independence. The principle of the independence of the Secretariat from na- tional pressures has also been reinforced in the Charter by Article 6 Report of the Fifth Committee to the General Assembly, A/I1, Jan. 23, 1946, at 1. The Preparatory Commission had also recommended that "the terms of the appoint- ment of the Secretary-General should be such as to enable a man of eminence and high attainment to accept and maintain the position." Report of the Preparatory Commission, PC/20, Dec. 23, 1945, at 81. T See Report, supra note 5, at 86. 8 Id. at 81; see also id. at 85. 9 Article 101 of the UN Charter reads: 1. The staff shall be appointed by the Secretary-General under regulations estab- lished by the General Assembly. 2. Appropriate staffs shall be permanently assigned to the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, and, as required, to other organs of the United Na- tions. These staffs shall form a part of the Secretariat. 3. The paramount consideration in the emp!oyment of the staff and in the deter- minination of the conditions of service shall be the necessity of securing the highest stan- dards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Due regard shall be paid to the impor- tance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible. HAMMARSKJOLD AND THANT 105, which provides for granting officials of the Organization "such privileges and immunities as are necessary for the independent exer- cise of their functions in connection with the Organization."' 0 Closely connected with the independent status of the UN Secre- tariat is its "exclusively international character." Article 100, para- graph 2, of the Charter provides: Each Member of the United Nations undertakes to respect the ex- clusively international character of the responsibilities of the Secre- tary-General and the staff and not to seek to influence them in the discharge of their responsibilities. 1' The Preparatory Commission observed that: If it is to enjoy the confidence of all the Members of the United Nations, the Secretariat must be truly international in character...