OPINION:
As a candidate for United Nations secretary-general, I read the article, “Preparing to leave office, U.N. chief talks of a way forward with world beset by problems” (Web, Sept. 18) with interest.
The outgoing secretary-general describes a U.N. Security Council paralyzed in the face of conflict and a U.N. short of money. To confront this crisis, the U.N. must reform.
Calls for reform are nothing new. What has been missing is building consensus, proposing innovative solutions and finding the resolve to see them through.
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The first phase of U.N. reforms has cut about a quarter of posts at the organization. The cuts have fallen mostly on support and lower-level staff; senior management accounts for only 3% of them. Reform must begin at the top.
As secretary-general, I would streamline senior posts, address grade inflation, move substantive jobs to the regions and review staff costs, which now make up 70% of the regular budget. Member states must view overlapping mandates.
My perspective on U.N. reform is shaped by extensive experience both in and outside the organization. I have held leadership roles across all three core U.N. pillars. As president of the Security Council, I devised the straw ballot process still used to select the secretary-general.
As the U.N.’s first special representative for children and armed conflict, I established the monitoring mechanism that tracks grave violations against children in war, which remain in use two decades later. I came up with the formula that solved the Granada crisis in the General Assembly.
My work beyond the U.N. and diplomacy has included leading a major think tank, serving on key international commissions, working as an academic and practicing lawyer and serving on the boards of major private institutions. For the past five years, I have led Rocco Paco, a community-based movement that I co-founded to help rebuild a society devastated by war in northern Uganda.
These experiences have given me an understanding of the U.N.’s institutional strengths and limitations and an independent outside perspective. Rigorous reform requires a secretary-general with both.
Above all, the U.N. must return to its core mission: ending today’s major conflicts, protecting women and children, refocusing peace operations and applying the U.N. charter and human rights principles without selectivity.
OLARA OTUNNU
Candidate, secretary-general of the United Nations
New York, New York
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