The UN Secretaries General are the chief executive officers of the United Nations. Their main goal is to ensure international peace and security, to strengthen mutual understanding between countries. Read in the TSN.ua material about the famous UN Secretary Generals who helped make the world a better place with their actions.
Some UN Secretaries General have taken important steps that have influenced world politics, security, and generally helped make our world a better place to live.
António Guterres (Portugal)
(From January 1, 2017 to present)
António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres is the ninth Secretary General of the United Nations (since January 1, 2017). June 18, 2021 was reappointed for a second term. In the past, Guterres served as a Portuguese socialist politician, was the Prime Minister of Portugal and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Here are some of the important things he did and continues to do as Secretary General of the United Nations:
Ban Gimun (South Korea)
(January 1, 2007 – December 31, 2016)
Gimun was the eighth Secretary General of the United Nations. Previously, he served as a diplomat in the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the United Nations, and was also the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade in South Korea.
As Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon introduced several important reforms in the work of the peacekeeping organization. He paid the most attention to the following issues:
Kofi Annan (Republic of Ghana)
(January 1, 1997 – December 31, 2006)
He was the seventh Secretary General of the United Nations. Prior to that, he worked at the World Health Organization and other United Nations agencies, was the Executive Director of Ghana Tourist Development Co, served as UN Assistant Secretary General for Human Resources and Security Coordinator in the UN system.
2001 Kofi Annan and the United Nations received the Nobel Peace Prize for establishing the World Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to support developing countries. Other notable achievements of Kofi Annan as UN Secretary General:
Dag Gammarskjöld (Sweden)
(April 7, 1953 – September 18, 1961)
He was the second secretary of the UN. In 1952, Secretary General Trygve Li resigned, which created the need to search for a new candidate for this post. In 1953, Dag Gammarskjöld was unanimously elected. Unfortunately, during his second term in office, the aircraft carrying the Secretary General to the Congo to oversee the activities of the UN Operation crashed and Dag Hammerskjöld tragically died.
During his tenure as Secretary General of the United Nations, Dag Hammerskjöld was noted for various achievements, in particular:
List of all UN Secretary Generals throughout the existence of the organization
The United Nations was founded in 1945 to maintain and strengthen peace and international security, to develop cooperation between different countries of the world.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations. During the entire existence of the UN, in addition to the above-mentioned secretaries general, there were also the following:
- Gledwyn Jebb – the first acting UN Secretary General, British diplomat and politician (October 24, 1945 – February 1, 1946).
- Trygve Halfdan Lie – the first elected UN Secretary General, Norwegian politician (February 2, 1946 – November 10, 1952).
- Maha Thrai Sithu U Thant – Third Secretary General of the United Nations, Burmese diplomat (November 30, 1961 – January 1, 1972).
- Kurt Waldheim – fourth UN Secretary General, Austrian politician and diplomat (January 1, 1972 – January 1, 1982).
- Javier Perez de Cuellar – the fifth Secretary General of the UN, Peruvian statesman, diplomat (January 1, 1982 – January 1, 1992).
- Boutros Boutros Ghali – the sixth UN Secretary General, as well as an Egyptian diplomat and politician (January 1, 1992 – January 1, 1997).
