Research Report Appointing the UN Secretary-General: The Challenge for the Security Council By a vote of ten to none, with one Introduction abstention, the Security Council decided to recommend to the General Assembly the appointment of Dag Hammarskjöld (Sweden) as UN Secretary-General in 1953. (UN On 16 October 2015, Security Council Report the 11 candidates nominated by the time of Photo) published a report on “Appointing the UN Sec- writing have been made publicly available; and retary-General”. It provided background on the they have all participated in webcast interactive history of the process and procedure, and on pro- dialogue sessions with the full UN membership. 2016, No. 4 posals for change. It also described developments The Council has agreed to meet candidates at 30 June 2016 since the selection of Secretary-General Ban Ki- their request, has had informal meetings with This report is available online at securitycouncilreport.org. moon in 2006 and relevant Security Council dis- two candidates and expects to meet others in cussion up to early October. the near future. For daily insights by SCR on evolving Security Council actions please In this report, we examine the major develop- The Council has discussed the timing and subscribe to our “What’s In Blue” ments that have occurred since October 2015 procedure for straw polls—its informal proce- series at whatsinblue.org or follow @SCRtweets on Twitter. in both the General Assembly and the Security dure for testing the viability of candidatures—and Council. A formal nomination process has been has decided to hold its first straw poll on 21 July. instituted; the details and vision statements of This report traces the evolution of straw polls and Security Council Report Research Report June 2016 securitycouncilreport.org 1 Introduction (con’t) provides answers to some commonly-asked published material, including autobiogra- 1 Introduction questions about straw polls and formal bal- phies of former Secretaries-General and par- 2 Part I: Developments during lots informed by past practice. ticipants; and research interviews with indi- October 2015-June 2016 The report goes on to highlight some of viduals involved in the process in the past. 4 Part II: General Assembly the key issues for the Council in the appoint- We try to provide an accurate picture of the Activities ment of the Secretary-General and provides procedure and details of the past selections, analysis of current Council dynamics regard- but the highly secretive nature of this pro- 5 Part III: Security Council Activities ing the process. cess has made it difficult to verify some his- We have used UN documents; other torical information. 6 Part IV: Formal Ballots and Straw Polls 9 Part V: Issues and Options 10 Part VI: Council Dynamics Part I: Developments during October 2015- 10 Conclusion 11 UN Documents and Useful June 2016 Additional Resources Joint Letter particularly China and Russia, that the UK General Assembly resolution 69/321 adopt- draft joint letter went beyond General Assem- ed on 11 September 2015 called for the bly resolution 69/321, the most controversial Security Council and the General Assem- issues during negotiations revolved around bly presidents to start the Secretary-General the inclusion of a timeline for different steps appointment process through a joint letter in the appointment process, how to specify describing the process. Soon after the adop- qualities expected of a UN Secretary-General, tion of this resolution, it became clear that a references to geographic balance or rotation, number of Council members were keen to references to gender, the question of Council see the text finalised before the end of the meetings with candidates and whether only year, although Russia preferred to wait until member states could nominate candidates. 2016 when the composition of the Council With regard to the timeline, China and that would make the appointment was in Russia were of the view that the 2016 appoint- place. Elements of a draft joint letter were ment process should follow closely that of first broached by the president of the General 2006. That year, the Council conducted its Assembly at the monthly meeting of the presi- first straw poll at the end of July and made dents of the Council and the General Assem- its decision on its recommendation in Octo- bly during the Spanish presidency in Octo- ber. Russia was also against including specific ber 2015. In November, the UK as Council details for the timeline of the process, such as president discussed in the monthly meeting a deadline for nominations, timeline for infor- of the two presidents a draft reflecting ele- mal dialogues of the General Assembly, and ments from the president of the General when the process for the appointment of the Assembly which it intended to propose. Fol- Secretary-General should be concluded. The lowing this meeting, further inputs from the agreed language in the final draft was that the Office of the President of the General Assem- selection process would begin “by the end of bly were incorporated into the draft text. On July”, keeping open the possibility of an earlier 16 November, the draft letter was circulated start, and that the Council plans to make its to all 15 members, and on 18 November recommendation to the General Assembly “in Council members met to discuss the draft a timely manner so that appointment by the text under “any other business”. This was General Assembly allows the newly appointed followed by three revisions of the draft text, Secretary-General sufficient time to prepare which was put under silence on 3 December. for the job.” Russia, however, broke silence as it still had a The issue of how to refer to geographic number of unresolved issues. Finally, follow- balance was also contentious. It seems that ing a meeting between Russia, the UK and Russia wanted to refer to a ‘tradition of geo- the president of the General Assembly on 9 graphic rotation” rather than to “the need December to discuss final unresolved issues, to ensure equal and fair distribution based a draft was put under silence procedure on on...geographical balance”, noting that this 12 December. was used in resolution 69/321 in reference Besides reactions from some members, to the appointment of the executive heads 2 whatsinblue.org Security Council Report Research Report June 2016 Part I: Developments during October 2015-June 2016 (con’t) of the UN, not just the Secretary-General. to the practice of regional rotation, it is next Herzegovina; nominated on 25 May 2016. The eventual compromise was to “note the in line for the position of Secretary-General; • Igor Lukšić (Montenegro), Deputy Prime regional diversity in the selection of previous the Chair of the Group of Eastern European Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Secretaries-General”. States wrote to UN member states in Novem- and former Prime Minister; nominated on Russia held strongly that only member ber 2014 formally expressing this and recall- 14 January 2016. states should be able to nominate candidates ing that Eastern Europe is the only regional • Susana Malcorra (Argentina), Minister of and wanted the joint letter to state this clearly. group that has not had a Secretary-General. Foreign Affairs and Worship, former Chef In the end, the joint letter stated that member While eight of the 11 candidates nominat- de Cabinet to the UN Secretary-General; states were encouraged to present candidates. ed by the time of writing are from Eastern nominated on 18 May 2016. A final issue was whether informal dia- Europe, candidates from New Zealand and • Vesna Pusić (Croatia), former First Depu- logues and meetings with the candidates Portugal (both Western European and Others ty Prime Minister and former Minister of might be organised by Council members, Group) and from Argentina (Group of Latin Foreign and European Affairs; nominated other than the president. The UK, which had American and Caribbean States [GRULAC]) on 5 January 2016. publicly stated that it would use the Arria-for- have entered the race. The strong advocacy • Danilo Türk (Slovenia), former President mula format for meetings with candidates in by some groups for a first woman Secretary- of Slovenia and former UN Assistant Sec- early 2016, and does not have a 2016 presi- General appears to have succeeded in encour- retary-General for Political Affairs; nomi- dency, was particularly keen to have a formu- aging the nomination of a larger number of nated on 3 February 2016. lation which left open this possibility. The final women: so far, five of the 11 candidates are The president of the General Assembly draft stated that, “The President of the Gener- women. In 15 elections held over the last 70 invited each candidate to submit a concise al Assembly and the President of the Security years for the post of UN Secretary-General, vision statement on the challenges and oppor- Council will offer candidates opportunities for only three women have been seriously con- tunities facing the next Secretary-General, informal dialogues or meetings with the mem- sidered as candidates (Vijaya Lakshmi Pan- and these were uploaded onto the website bers of their respective bodies…”. dit (India) in 1953, Gro Harlem Brundtland created by the Office of the President of the The letter was issued on 15 December (Norway) in 1991 and Vaira Vike-Freiberga General Assembly for the selection process. 2016, signed jointly by General Assembly (Latvia) in 2006). The vision statements and the website have president Mogens Lykketoft (Denmark) and The eleven nominees (as at 30 June) are: become key tools for greater transparency in Council president for December, Ambassa- • Irina Bokova (Bulgaria), Director-General the selection process. dor Samantha Power (US).