Blue Smoke Statement of Principles (UN Appointments)

 Excellencies,

In 2022 a working group was formed by UNA-UK, Plataforma CIPÓ and Strategy for Humanity to shine a light

on elections and appointments to senior positions within the United Nations. Working with civil society partners

we have established the attached statement of principles which we believe should guide senior appointments

at the United Nations and how states engage with the appointment process.

We have the pleasure of sharing this statement with you, alongside the following list of civil society

organizations who have endorsed them. Collectively we urge you to put them into practice, and to encourage

the UN Secretariat to do likewise.

Yours sincerely,

1. United Nations Association – UK (UNA-UK)

2. Plataforma CIPÓ

3. Strategy for Humanity

4. Amnesty International

5. Association of World Citizens

6. Budapest Centre for Dialogue and Mass Atrocities Prevention

7. Cameroon for a World BEYOND War

8. Center for Human Rights-Nis, Serbia (CHRNis)

9. Chilean Association for the United Nation (ACHNU)

10. Citizens for Global Solutions (CGS)

11. CIVICUS

12. Coalition For the UN We Need (C4UNWN)

13. Democracy Without Borders

14. Equality Now (Antonia Kirkland)

15. Free Trade Union Development Center

16. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect

17. Global Governance, Justice & Security Program, Stimson Center

18. Global Justice Center

19. Global Memo

20. Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC)

21. Human Rights Watch

22. InterAgency Institute

23. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)

24. Let There Be Light International

25. National Campaign For Sustainable Development-Nepal

26. National Coalition of Civil Society Organizations of Liberia (NACCSOL)

27. Nonviolent Peaceforce

28. Observa China 观中国

29. Peace Direct

30. Permanent Peace Movement

31. Protection Approaches

32. United Nations Association Harpenden

33. United Nations Association London and South-East Region

34. United Nations Association South Sudan

35. Union des Amis socio Culturels d'Action en Developpement (UNASCAD)

36. United Nations Association Luton

37. Wereld Federalisten Beweging Nederland (WFBN)

Blue Smoke statement of principles

“We, the peoples” have a right to know who is exercising the power vested in the United Nations, and how they

got there.

Our goal is for the appointment of senior UN leaders to be inclusive, merit-based and transparent. This is

essential not only for the credibility – and therefore effectiveness – of the mandate-holder and the UN, but to

help find the world’s most qualified leaders without discrimination on the basis of their nationality or

background. Given the challenges humanity is facing, the world cannot afford anything less.

Article 100 (2) of the UN charter seeks to establish a truly independent international service which member

states must not attempt to influence. Article 101 (3) states that staff should be recruited “on as wide a

geographical basis as possible.”

There is a need for honesty about what this means in practice. UN staff are, and should remain, independent

international civil servants, but senior staff are also public figures. No one is well served by the pretense that

senior appointments are internal matters when it has been revealed time and again that these posts are traded

by and between states for political capital.

Civil Society can help the UN here: by shining a light on the reasons why recruitment decisions are made and

the nature of the competing interests of states and other stakeholders who have sought to sway appointments,

we can hold those responsible to account while strengthening the UN’s independence.

And we can help the United Nations pursue an intersectional approach to equity whereby the geographic basis

of the UN Secretariat is increased and doors are opened for those who currently find them closed, but no

position is considered to be anybody’s exclusive property.

Now, more than ever, the public needs confidence in the UN. Pulling back the curtain on UN senior

appointments in pursuit of an open, inclusive, merit-based approach will aid this mission.

Principles for fair, inclusive, transparent appointments for UN

senior leaders

1. FAIR AND HUMAN RIGHTS-CENTRED: All UN appointments should be merit-based and follow

established best practice, with a job description, person specification, and a competitive, proportionate

and rigorous selection process to ensure that the best possible candidate is chosen. Adherence to the

highest standards of commitment to human rights is non-negotiable, and should comprise part of a

comprehensive vetting process.

2. INCLUSIVE: All UN appointments should be open for applications from the most qualified candidates

without discrimination on the basis of nationality, background, race, sexuality, age, gender, or religion.

All UN appointments should be publicly advertised in good time with the advert circulated to all member

states, to civil society, and in conventional and social media.

3. DIVERSE: A fair distribution based on region, gender and background should be achieved at all levels

of UN appointments. The UN and member states should proactively invest in removing barriers to

ensure that nationals from less well-represented and marginalized groups worldwide are able to

compete on equal terms with those from developed nations or from more privileged backgrounds.

4. GENDER SENSITIVE: Acknowledging the huge disparities that persist across the UN system, the UN

and member states must play a proactive role in countering gender discrimination and promoting

equality. This should include equal or greater than equal representation of qualified women at all stages

of the recruitment process as well as within the hiring team. Due regard should be given to exclusionary

practices built into employment conditions, working methods and selection criteria.

5. TRANSPARENT: The public has a right to know key details of all senior appointments at the UN: what

the terms of reference for the role are, when they were appointed, when their contract starts, how long

their contract lasts for, if and when their contract is renewed, how the post is funded, and when and

how to apply when the post falls vacant. This information should be consolidated in one readily

accessible online location, and communications should be issued whenever an appointment is made or

a contract renewed.

6. NO MONOPOLIES: No UN role should be de facto ring-fenced for the nationals of any UN member

state, the institutional practice of placing emphasis on the nationality of appointees should be curtailed,

and whenever the General Assembly’s regulation that no individual of the same nationality as their

predecessor should ever be appointed to a senior post is ignored the Secretary-General should be

called to explain why.

7. NO LOBBYING: States should desist from seeking to influence UN decisions on senior appointments,

in keeping with Article 100(2) of the UN Charter. Unless an appointment requires nominations from

member states, states should refrain from backing candidacies for senior UN roles, publicly or

otherwise.

8. RETHINKING STATE BACKING: States can play a positive role in ensuring that job vacancies are

widely circulated and talent nurtured. Where an appointment requires nominations from member states,

states should support the best candidate for the job, not just their own nationals. States should be

encouraged to work together in jointly nominating qualified candidates.

9. STAKEHOLDER INCLUSIVE: The UN serves the people, not member states. Whenever the UN

consults with states it should also consult with the people directly, including geographically and

intergenerationally diverse civil society representatives and those stakeholders who stand to be

affected by the mandate of the role in question

10. MAINSTREAMED: The independence of UN Specialized Agencies and related international

organizations must not be used as an excuse to avoid accountability and transparency. These

principles are relevant to all parts of the UN system, and best practice should be mainstreamed with

respect to senior appointments.