Ban Ki-moon, the eighth United Nations secretary-general, arrived for his first day at work on Tuesday with a tough appeal for staff to embrace change and restore trust in the organisation.
In a brief appearance before reporters he vowed to give the crisis in the Sudanese Darfur region top priority and said, to questions on the execution of Saddam Hussein, that capital punishment was an issue for each state to decide on.
That appeared a step back from the UN’s traditional opposition to the death penalty.
But his core message was delivered to a closed meeting of UN staff. He praised their professionalism, but warned that the UN’s “sense of pride is not to be taken for granted; it must be earned. We are all here for reasons greater than our own personal advancement or national interest.”
Over recent years, he noted, the UN secretariat had faced harsh, sometimes unfair, criticism and “staff morale has plummeted”. But some of the criticisms, he said, “warrant our urgent attention” and “we must take bold steps to dispel them”.
Mr Ban promised to build a more mobile staff, which moved between headquarters and field posts – addressing the fact that many UN officials, on reaching New York and Geneva, remain in place for years, while field positions often go unfilled.
“We have to show the international community we are ready and eager to change,” Mr Ban said. “I ask senior managers to co-operate fully in my efforts to change the working culture.”
Stephen Kisimbira, a UN staff representative, told Mr Ban that he expected a revamp of the UN’s internal justice system, and “a fundamental change in the mindset of senior management”.
There was a sense of anticipation at the UN’s New York headquarters as officials wondered what the future had in store.
As a first step, Mr Ban announced two appointments over the holiday period, both well received.
His chief of staff will be Vijay Nambiar, a veteran Indian diplomat who acted as adviser to Kofi Annan, the last secretary-general. His spokeswoman will be Michele Montas, a respected Haitian journalist.
