The UN has failed in its central role, the maintenance of Essay - 1

The UN has failed in its central role, the maintenance of international peace and security. what is the role of the UN in world affairs and what it future prospects - Essay Example This position is nominated by Security Council and elected by General assembly. The person in this position cannot be a citizen of any member states that are permanent. The secretary general is always from an average power and never had prior fame, always high powered people are selected for the post but are disallowed for several reasons (Gallup 2004) By the early 1960s the former president of USSR, Nikita, tried to abolish the secretary general’s position. Nikita felt that this position favored the Western powers as the number of member states that are permanent surpassed the communists. To replace this position he suggested a three member board to be appointed. The panel would be a representation of western power, non-aligned and communists’ states. The proposal was neglected as non-member states were never for the proposal. Since the start of this organization several UN secretaries have been spotted for their engagement in the affair of the world. Carl Hammarskjold was selected as the secretary general in the year 1953. In this position, he ruled for 8 years until he met his death in a plane crash. Carl was a son to a former prime minister of Sweden Hjalmar Hammarskjold. Before he joined this organization UN, he held several jobs that were ranked middle in the government of Sweden. He was chosen to be the UN sec retary general in 1953 (Altschiller 1993) Hammarskjold’s greatest challenge came when the republic of Congo was created. With this part of the region achieving freedom from the French colonialists, the native tribes were very volatile. There was a power vacuum created making the state vulnerable to civil war. Hammarskjold supervised the process of election following an appeal from UN state assistance. There was a quick war break out and people felt that the UN had failed. The Soviet Union stated that the efforts of UN were insignificant and instantly asked for Hammarskjold’s