Welcome To New Leaders at the UN

Ban Ki-moon, former Republic of Korea Foreign Minister, began his new days of 2007 as the 8th Secretary General of the United Nations by meeting with UN staff and appointing key new senior members of his team. It is encouraging to learn from the news that he has practiced gender equality by appointing a man, Vijay Nambiar from India as Chief of Staff, and a woman, Michele Montas of Haiti as Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. I hope that he will continue to do this good deed in trying to do “gender balancing” for all his new appointments aiming really to achieve “gender equality” in the top achelons of the Secretariat of the United Nations, as it is his duty in the implementation of the United Nations Charter, in particular, the Article 8, that there shall be no sex discrimination in the staff appointments. Ban Ki-moon also promised that he would appoint a woman as Deputy Secretary-General. I hope that this important appointment goes beyond a mere symbolism to give “an appearance of gender equality” and gives her significant jobs to do that will have a global impact — contributing to world peace and sustainable development– and not just a job of helping him in the traditional “female” role of housekeeping and management of the Secretariat.

Filed under Gender Issues, United Nations, World Affairs |