By Otto Spijkers

Yesterday was United Nations day. Of course, the UN Secretary-General had very positive things to say about his employer:

The world is changing in the United Nations’ favor — as more people and Governments understand that multilateralism is the only path in our interdependent and globalizing world. Global problems demand global solutions — and going it alone is not a viable option. Whether we are speaking of peace and security, development, or human rights, demands on our Organization are growing every day.

More interesting, perhaps, is to read some of the comments posted on the US Department of State Official Blog (to make such a blog is a wonderful idea, I think, and I hope the Dutch Government will start a blog of its own soon). The question asked to all Americans was phrased in a very positive way: ‘Does the United Nations continue to effectively fulfill its mission?’ (It could easily have been formulated otherwise, as in ‘Does the costly and ineffective bureaucracy, referred to as the UN, which failed to prevent genocide in Rwanda and Srebrenica, and which now fails to establish peace and security in the Congo.. etc. etc., need to be abolished?’) There were quite a few people who answered the question. Continue reading →

By Otto Spijkers

In this post, I would like to present to you the speech by Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, at the 62nd session of the General Assembly, 27 September 2007. The speech is also available in Dutch, and as video. Continue reading →

By Otto Spijkers

I referred earlier to a speech by the Minister for Development Cooperation. The text of that speech was published today (it is available here). Continue reading →

By Otto Spijkers

On 17 September, our Minister for Development Cooperation, Mr. Bert Koenders (see picture), came to our University to explain his policy on development cooperation. Continue reading →

By Otto Spijkers

The gathering of the Assembly of the League of Nations in June-July, 1936, was the dramatic climax of the dispute between Italy and Ethiopia, at least as far as the League of Nations was involved. The Emperor of Ethiopia, in exile at that time, came in person to Geneva to address the Assembly, something no other (former) head of state had ever done. His speech became one of the most famous speeches in the history of the League. Continue reading →

By Otto Spijkers

I find it fascinating to watch newsreels of times I was not even born yet. My interest is mainly in newsreels related to the work of the United Nations and its predecessor: the League of Nations. There is not much film footage available of the League (some of it is available here), but one of the most dramatic events has been recorded. That is the conflict between Ethiopia and Italy in the 1930’s. For a short visual summary of the conflict, please watch this newsreel. Continue reading →

By Otto Spijkers

18 September 1961, Hammarskjold died in a mysterious plane crash as he entered the skies of what was then Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia. The Secretary-General of the United Nations was due to meet rebel leader Moise Tshombe and negotiate a truce with him in the civil war between the Katanga secessionist movement of Tshombe and the Congolese central government. There are quite a lot of theories relating to his death (see e.g. here, here, and here), but many insiders, including Brian Urquhart, believe it was just an accident. In a biography of Hammarskjold written by Urquhart, the story ends as follows:

Only Harold Julien [ONUC chief of security] was alive when the search party finally reached the wreckage on the following afternoon, and he died of burns five days later. Hammarskjold was thrown clear of the wreckage and, alone among the victims, was not burned at all. Although the post-mortem showed that he had probably lived for a short time after the crash, his injuries – a severely fractured spine, several broken ribs, a broken breastbone, a broken thigh, and severe internal hemorrhaging – were certainly fatal. He was lying on his back near a small shrub which had escaped the fire, his face extraordinarily peaceful, a hand clutching a tuft of grass. (Hammarskjold, p. 589.)

Continue reading →

By Otto Spijkers

Article 99 is by far the most important article in the short list of articles in the UN Charter assigning functions to the Secretary-General (articles 97-100). Article 99 explicitly gives the SG important political power. When article 98 still assigns mainly administrative functions to the SG, be it with some political ‘side effects’, article 99 is purely political. SG Dag Hammarskjold (see picture) said that ‘[i]t is article 99 more than any other [article] which was considered by the drafters of the Charter to have transformed the Secretary-General from a purely administrative official to one with an explicit political responsibility’ (Source: p. 335 of Foote, Servant of Peace: A Selection of the Speeches and Statements of Dag Hammarskjold. Harper & Row Publishers, New York, 1962.). Continue reading →

By Otto Spijkers

The second Secretary-General in UN history, the Swede Dag Hammarskjold, explored the three bedrock principles of traditional peacekeeping in a report he wrote for the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) stationed in Egypt between November 1957 and June 1967 (this picture and the picture below shows UNEF peacekeepers on duty). This is the report. Continue reading →

By Otto Spijkers

Last week, I spent a few days in Stockholm and surroundings. One thing I did was visit the grave of one of UN’s big heroes: the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold (on the picture you see me at his grave in Uppsala, a small town close to Stockholm where Hammarskjold spent his student days). This visit inspired me to write a few posts about the illustrious Swede. I will start with a short description of the famous clash between him and Nikita Khrushchev, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The clash was about the Congo peacekeeping operation (ONUC), which was essentially run by the Secretary-General (at least according to Khrushchev). In following posts, I will write about peacekeeping (Post II) and Article 99 of the UN Charter (Post III). I will also write about his mysterious death (Post IV). Continue reading →