Ban Ki-moon stepped down as U.N. Secretary-General after ten years on January 1, leaving behind a legacy marked by almost total obedience to Washington.
The U.N.’s legitimacy rests on its neutrality, and a secretary-general’s reputation on the ability to navigate a course independent of the major powers and in defence of the world’s population. That’s how Dag Hammarskjöld defined it. The second secretary-general set the standard against which his successors are judged.
“The right of the Secretariat to full independence, as laid down in the Charter, is an inalienable right,” he said shortly after his election in 1953. The U.N.’s purpose, he said, was not to submit to the major powers but to seek “solutions which approach the common interest.”
Despite his elite background, his defence of the “common interest” distinguished Hammarskjöld and alarmed the world’s elites. His championing of the common interest of Africans and other colonized people put him at odds with apartheid South Africa, the U.S. and colonial Britain. It may have led to his death, as I reported in 2014. Full story...
The U.N.’s legitimacy rests on its neutrality, and a secretary-general’s reputation on the ability to navigate a course independent of the major powers and in defence of the world’s population. That’s how Dag Hammarskjöld defined it. The second secretary-general set the standard against which his successors are judged.
“The right of the Secretariat to full independence, as laid down in the Charter, is an inalienable right,” he said shortly after his election in 1953. The U.N.’s purpose, he said, was not to submit to the major powers but to seek “solutions which approach the common interest.”
Despite his elite background, his defence of the “common interest” distinguished Hammarskjöld and alarmed the world’s elites. His championing of the common interest of Africans and other colonized people put him at odds with apartheid South Africa, the U.S. and colonial Britain. It may have led to his death, as I reported in 2014. Full story...
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