| TRANSPARENCY |
U.N. quote-of-the-day by Javier Pérez de Cuéllar |
| TRANSPARENCY |
Objectives for lesson 3 |
| DISCUSSION |
Have the students tell what they have learned about the United Nations.
Have their beliefs been challenged, or upheld? |
| TRANSPARENCY |
The Secretaries General of the United Nations Organization |
| POSTER |
The United Nations (Secretariat, Sec. Council, Gen. Ass.) |
| LECTURE |
Over the last 50 years, the United Nations has had 6 Secretaries
General. As said before, the Secretary serves the other organs of the
U.N. and carries out programs and policies approved by the General
Assembly and the Security Council. The Secretary General is selected
by the Security Council from a list of nominees submitted by the General
Assembly. The Secretary general serves a five year term, and may
request more. The S.G. may serve as many terms as the Security
Council allows. |
| LECTURE |
The first Secretary General was Trygve Lie or Norway, he served from
1946 to 1953. This man essentially founded the post and set the tone it
would take for many years. Among his most notable attempts was trying
to have the U.N. control the atomic programs around the world so that
no nation would be capable of building an atomic device again. The
U.S.S.R. agreed to this, the U.S. did not. |
| LECTURE |
The second Secretary General was Dag Hammarskjold. He was from
Sweden and served from 1953 to 1961. Hammarskjold was killed in
1961 in a plane crash in Africa while he was trying to mediate a
settlement to a separatist movement in what is now Zaire. Hammarskjold
developed many more powers of the Secretary General than were
provided under the U.N. charter. He traveled extensively mediating
disputes. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously in 1961
for his contributions to world peace. |
| LECTURE |
U Thant of Burma was the U.N.’s third Secretary General. He served
from 1961 to 1971. He was headmaster of a high school in Burma until
he entered the foreign service. After Burma gained independence from
Britain, U Thant served as the government’s press director and Minister
of Information. Thant was Burma’s representative to the U.N. before
being elected to serve the remainder of Hammarskjold’s term. U Thant
was elected to another term and resigned his position in December of
1971 because of personal health problems. He died in 1974. |
| LECTURE |
Kurt Waldheim was the fourth U.N. Secretary. He came from Austria and
served from 1972 to 1981. He was elected to two terms of office.
Waldheim was the first Secretary to request a third term of office, but he
withdrew himself from nomination after China vetoed his nomination
during 16 rounds of ballot casting. Waldheim went on to serve as President of Austria. |
| LECTURE |
Javier Perez de Cuellar for the fifth U.N. Secretary General and was
from Peru. He served from 1982 to 1991. De Cuellar was the only
Secretary General to ever himself serve as a U.N. Peacekeeper, which
he did in Cyprus in 1975 and 1977. He was selected to serve as
Secretary General as a compromise candidate, one everyone could
agree on (or rather not disagree on). His first term was uneventful, but
after winning a second term he mediated an end to the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq
war and helped to gain the release of Americans and other Western
prisoners from Lebanon. He was offered a third term, but declined the
invitation. |
| LECTURE |
Boutros Boutros-Ghali is the current U.N. Secretary General and he is
the sixth. He is from Egypt and has served since 1992. He is favored by
many for a second term, although there are other favorites for the spot to
lead the U.N. into the 21st century. Boutros-Ghali has been a journalist
and a law professor in Egypt and played a major role in the Camp David
talks that lead to Egypt-Israeli peace. He is fluent in four languages, and
is a specialist on third world development. He played a major role in
winning the release of current South African President Nelson Mandella
in 1990. Boutros-Ghali is now faced with a U.N. crippled by lack of funds
(mainly from member states like the U.S. not paying their dues). An avid
believer of ‘peace-in-our-time’, Boutros-Ghali has supported the use of
Peacekeepers as peacemakers. |
| QUESTION |
After hearing about all of the Secretaries General, what can you
conclude about them as a whole? (Analysis)
(a) service minded, dedicated to peace, expanded powers of Secretariat |
| LECTURE |
Peacekeeping has traditionally been the U.N.’s major function. When it
works, its great. When it doesn’t the results can be disastrous. As we
learned yesterday, there are two prerequisites normally used before
peacekeepers can be deployed: an agreement must already be in place
or being negotiated and peacekeepers must be invited by all sides
involved. What we’ve been seeing more of in recent years is what is
called peacemaking. Its an ambitious concept that promises a lot but so
far it hasn’t had many successes. Peacemaking is when peacekeepers
are deployed into a situation where the two prerequisites are not met
with the intent to impose a peace on conflicting sides that do not
necessarily want the U.N. there at all. |
| QUESTION |
Give an example of a peacekeeping operation? (Application)
(a) anything where the criteria have been met |
| QUESTION |
Give an example of a peacemaking operation? (Application)
(a) any mission where criteria haven’t been met |
| LECTURE |
Cambodia is a prime example of peacekeeping done right. After years of
fighting, the two conflicting sides agreed to U.N. mediation to restore
peace to the ravaged country. Both sides (government and
anti-government forces) requested that U.N. peacekeepers come in to
monitor the truce while the mediation proceeded. The mediation ended
with an agreement for the country’s first free elections in years to be
held and that both sides would respect the outcome of the election. The
U.N. monitored the elections, and a democratic government was elected.
Both sides recognized the elections and the peacekeepers were
removed from the area in 1993. |
| LECTURE |
Peacekeepers have been used extensively in the Middle East too. A
good example is the Suez Crisis of 1956. There the peacekeepers kept
Britain, France and Israel from seizing the Canal. This is a complex
example since the General Assembly sent the peacekeepers, not the
Security Council and someone could do a good report on it. Hint hint. |
| LECTURE |
Somalia is a good example of how peacemaking has gone in recent
years. U.S. and U.N. forces went in to stop the massive killings and
starvation that years of clan warfare had caused. Of course there was a
little problem, there were over a dozen clans fighting, no central
government and nobody wanted the U.N. there. Denied adequate
weapons from the U.S. (due to budget concerns) the peacekeepers soon
exhausted their armor and ammunition and quickly became sitting
ducks. The U.N. force withdrew in 1994, with any success that may have
been made being erased as soon as they left. Somalia is today in
roughly the same shape it was before the peacekeepers arrived. |
| LECTURE |
Bosnia is an example of peacemaking too, and the results have yet to be
seen. So far, it is the most costly peacekeeping operation to date (in
money and lives too). The Serbs did not want the U.N. in Bosnia, but
Croatia and Bosnia pleaded for intervention. Peacekeepers were
deployed while there was no truce in effect, and more recently the new
UNRRF (U.N. Rapid Reaction Force) was deployed there. These forces
shoot first, ask questions later. |
| QUESTION |
Do you think the Bosnia mission should be considered a peacemaking
or a peacekeeping mission? Give reasons for your response.
(Evaluation)
(a) arguments can be made for both - peacekeeping because they were
requested by Croatia and Bosnia - peacemaking because
Serbia didn’t want them there, there was no plan for peace
and now the UNRRF |
| HANDOUT |
U.N. Word Search Puzzle on Secretary Generals to be completed and
turned in on unit test day. |