To the Candidates for Secretary-General of the United Nations:

The next Secretary-General of the United Nations will take the helm at a time of unprecedented global challenge. Forty-two states are embroiled in conflict, [1] the vast majority of it intrastate conflict lasting an average of 37 years. [2] Terrorism is on the rise, increasing more than 1,300 percent in the past decade. [3] Fragile states host 43 percent of the world’s extreme poor today, and will host an estimated 62 percent by 2030. These factors have mobilized the largest number of displaced people in recorded history, half of whom have been displaced for more than a decade. [4]

Against this backdrop, the UN has never been more necessary nor more challenged. Intrastate conflict and terrorism have proven beyond the reach of the UN’s traditional tools. Despots and extremists have run roughshod over humanitarian law, and the inability of the Security Council to enforce it has degraded it further. And while the international community has responded to the global humanitarian crisis with the largest amount of financing in history, the panoply of unmet need indicates that the gap between humanitarian need and provision is growing.

The next Secretary-General needs to make the remedy of this situation a priority. We believe that his or her ability to answer the following questions should be a determining factor in their selection.

1. The protection of civilians: 

With more than 400,000 thousand civilian deaths, armed non-state actors targeting civilians, 19 UN-designated areas under siege, food and medicine used as weapons of war, and children dying from starvation, the Syrian conflict has rendered irrelevant long-standing international law on the protection of civilians in conflict. In this new context, how will you work with member states and civil society to fulfill obligations to protect civilians in conflict?

2. The right to seek and gain asylum: 

Around the world, countries are turning away from their obligations to refugees and asylum seekers. Border closures, detention centers, repatriation and denial of due process are common. How will you work with member states to reinvigorate humanitarian obligations under international law, including the right to seek and gain refugee status for those fleeing for their lives?

3. Global responsibility sharing:

Conflict is driving 14,000 people to flee their homes every day, and 20 million refugees are seeking safety abroad. Less than one percent of these were resettled in 2015. Refugee hosting is a global public good, but the costs are often borne by low-income countries. Greater responsibility sharing is critical, including increased financial assistance and resettlement, for which UNHCR has proposed a target of 10 percent of refugees. What is your vision for a global burden-sharing agreement for refugees, and how would you pursue it?

4. From delivering aid to ending need:

The Commitment to Action, launched by the UN at the World Humanitarian Summit, recognizes the increasingly protracted nature of displacement and promises to bring development and humanitarian efforts together to support sustainable outcomes for the most vulnerable people. How will you take forward the Commitment to Action, including its focus on joint needs assessment and planning, multiyear timeframes, and multisectoral partnerships? How will you measure its success?

5. Achieving outcomes for the displaced:

The world came together in 2015 to commit to the Sustainable Development Goals. The Secretary-General’s report, One Humanity, Shared Responsibility, and the Commitment to Action make multiple references to establishing collective outcomes—mutually agreed goals and targets—for displaced populations. What process will you lead to establish and institutionalize such collective outcomes, and how will you measure progress toward them for displaced populations?

6. The “Grand Bargain” and humanitarian financing:

Never has the global community been so generous, and never has the gap between need and financing been so great. In this context, we urgently need to make the humanitarian system more efficient, coherent, and transparent. The “Grand Bargain” establishes a pathway to modernize the humanitarian sector, and was one of the most significant outcomes of the WHS. How will you make the case for more financing, and how will you work with UN agency leads to implement the Grand Bargain and drive greater cost-efficiency, transparency and accountability in the humanitarian system?

7. Political solutions and conflict resolution:

Humanitarian action can address the consequences but not the cause. Protracted and intrastate conflicts are increasingly immune to the efforts of external actors to resolve. Core to the Secretary-General’s role is the need to speak and act for peace.  How will you work with member states to reinvigorate conflict response and reach political solutions for some of the world’s toughest conflicts?

We welcome your responses to these questions before the first round of voting, anticipated for late July, and are eager to partner with the next Secretary-General to achieve a more vigorous, more responsive, and more accountable humanitarian system, and a more peaceful world.

[1] Armed Conflict 2015 Press Statement. (May 2015). International Institute for Strategic Studies.

[2] Time to let go: Remaking humanitarian action for the modern era. (2016). HPG. p. 29.

[3] From 2004 to 2014. Figures from the Global Terrorism Database, University of Maryland.

[4] Protracted Displacement: Uncertain paths to self-reliance in exile. (2015). Overseas Development Institute. p. 1.

Responses

Miroslav Lajčák, Slovak Republic

Vuk Jeremic, Republic of Serbia

Prof. Dr. Igor Luksic, Montenegro