The Election at the United Nations: Ban Ki-Who?
It’s been a decade since Ban Ki-moon became Secretary-General. His term ends on December 31st of this year, and election proceedings have begun to pick his successor.
A lot has changed since 2006. A global financial crisis. The Arab Spring. Unprecedented climate change. All of these issues have come to define Ban Ki-Moon’s time in office. The next Secretary-General will face a more violent, more educated, and more connected world.
With a presidential election brewing in the United States, many of the New Yorkers I talked to aren’t aware of the UN election happening in their own backyard.
Eddie Gamboa hasn’t heard of Ban Ki-Moon, or the UN election. He says he has better things to worry about.
“As in, my wife and my child. Trying to put food on the table. It’s pretty much an everyday New Yorker’s life,” he said.
But it’s easy to write off the job if you don’t know what it entails.
In order to begin to understand the process to elect a new Secretary-General, let’s answer the question: what does the Secretary General even do?
To the international community, the Secretary-General is the symbol of UN ideals and a spokesperson for the interests of the world’s peoples.
He maintains a tricky balance between listening to the concerns of member states and upholding the moral authority of the United Nations. Here’s CNN’s Becky Anderson talking about a recent controversy.
“Commenting on this controversy, the UN chief himself Ban Ki-Moon, live, just in the last 5 minutes, in front of the world’s press, has described the undo pressure that he was under to remove the Saudi coalition from the blacklist as ‘unacceptable,’ and one of the most difficult decisions that he has made in the job. That is very strong rhetoric,” she said.
Earlier this year, the Secretary-General came under fire for removing Saudi Arabia from a list of human rights violators, because Saudi Arabia reportedly threatened to withdraw its funding from the UN. But Ban Ki-Moon stood by his decision.
“Because of this, you cannot burn down whole house. I’m chief administrative officer of this organization. I have to take care and consider so many humanitarian crises happening at the same time,” he said.
As Secretary-General, he’s had to make some tough calls about how to handle global crises. An essential part of his job is navigating complicated negotiations between states.
On any given day, Ban Ki-Moon delivers 10 speeches, and attends 25 to 30 meetings with global leaders. Not to mention travelling all over the world.
When he’s not traveling the globe, Ban Ki-Moon’s home base is at the UN Headquarters in New York City. Where many global leaders travel to see him.
Ban Ki-moon will be remembered for UN peacekeeping reform, vocalizing global warming, and addressing the conflict in Darfur. As the United Nations wraps up its 70th year, the next Secretary-General will be faced with a rapidly changing geopolitical climate and increased calls for reform within the UN itself.
