The International Civil Servant in Law and in Fact Essay Example for Free

The International Civil Servant in Law and in Fact Essay sum-up The article presents an issue that is of great significance to all nations. It notes a statement made by head Krushchev, which states, while there are neutral countries, there are no neutral men. This statement seems to quarrel the stability of planetary permanent organs, such as the League of Nations and the United Nations. The article traces the history of the presentation called as international accomplished utility, and recalls that the Covenant of the League of Nations did not originally contemplate a secretariat of an international character. Thus, there was, initially, a need to hire people from different nations in order to conceptive that interests of such nations are represented in the body and that no one nation could have a monopoly in providing material to the international body. The first Secretary-General of the League, Sir Eric Drummond, first expressed the principle of an international secret ariat. For him, those men and women to be appointed by the Secretary-General should be carefully selected, because upon assumption to power, they would no longer represent the complianceive countries of which they were citizens rather, they would give out international civil retainers. Their duties would already be international in character, and they fashion the servants of the League of Nations. International civil service is characterized by three major ideas. First, it has an international composition. Second, international civil servants have international responsibilities. Third, the international Secretariat is an administrative organ that must avoid partisanship. Similar to the concept of civil service in United Kingdom, the civil servant is a neutral officer, who must be separate and distinct from some other officer who is authorized to misrepresent the governmental decisions. Another relevant characteristic of the international civil service is independence. This cha racteristic, together with international responsibility, bars an international civil servant from receiving instructions from a State. Conversely, states and governments are enjoined to respect such independence and international responsibility of the Secretariat. These principles, which have been mostly free-baseed on the experience of the League of Nations, found expression in various formulations of the UN pick out. These principles have not been easy to maintain. Article 99 of the UN call for had caused quite a stir when it opened the door towards the exercise of political dainty by the Secretary-General, depraved to the long settled nature of his power as purely administrative. The problem with the nature of the power of the Secretary-General arose with the comprehension of new provisions in the subscribe of the United Nations that have broken away from the principles set frontward in the Covenant of the League of Nations. One such provision can be found in Article 97 of the carry, which places the Secretary-General to the position of chief administrative officer of the Organization.This provision is a big natural spring for the Charter, as this station had not been expressly provided in the Covenant. If at all, the office of the Secretary-General rested on implied open of powers, and not as explicit as Article 97. Thus, this provision mandated that the Secretary-General administer the Organization this removed the discretion of the principal organs to merely legate such power to the Secretary-General. Other original provisions of the Charter are found in Articles 98 and 99. Far from the questions raised by Article 97, these provisions prescribe the very nature of the office of the Secretary-General to controversy. Article 98 mandates that the Secretary-General shall act in such capacity during the meetings of the organs. However, it adds that he shall perform such other live ons as are entrusted to him by these organs. This provision clear ly allows the organs to delegate some of their functions to the Secretary-General, which functions, in all likelihood, would be political in nature. This provision therefore opens the door to the acquisition of a political role by the Secretary-General. Article 99 then opens the floodgates to more controversial issues. This provision allows the Secretary-General to bring matters to the attention of the Security Council. More importantly, it gives the Secretary-General the power to conduct inquiries and engage in informal diplomatic activity in regard to matters which may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security. Such discretional powers certainly convert the nature of the office of the Secretary-General from a neutral administrative office to a political one. Despite these developments, it is believed that the post of the Secretary-General remains a neutral one, provided that disinterest is defined as freedom from the figure out of national interests and press ures. The conflict is therefore reconciled by viewing the political powers of the Secretary-General as having an international, and not a national, basis. Other conflicts, such as the inevitable effect of national interest on the appointed provide of the Secretary-General likewise arose to test the neutrality of the Secretariat. Nevertheless, history proved that the United Nations succeeded in keeping its civil servants accountable to the Organization alone and not to their respective nations. The international civil servant sure has a pack resting on his shoulders. He is expected to remain unaffected by national pressures. He must make sure that sympathies and antipathies do not cloud his judgment. Thus, his only standard when performing his duties is whether his actions are guided by the goals and rules set by the Organization he serves.Questions and DiscussionsWhat is the issue discussed in the article? The article discussed the issue of neutrality of the office of the Secreta ry-General. It discussed the development of the position from the time it was conceptualized in the Covenant of the League of Nations up to the adoption of the Charter of the United Nations. The article discussed how the recent additions to the UN Charter affected the initially neutral and solely administrative function of the Secretary-General. The article likewise discussed how the seeming contradiction can be reconciled so that the provisions of the Charter would not contradict each other.How does the UN Charter maintain the neutrality of international civil servants? The UN Charter mandates that appointees of the Secretary-General become internationally responsible officials to the Organization, and no longer to their respective countries. The Charter recognizes that international civil servants should not be neuters who are unaware and apathetic of the concerns of their nations however, the Charter demands that such concerns be disregarded when the international civil servant a cts in the performance of his office.ReferencesHammarskjold, D. (1961). The International Civil Servant in Law and in Fact.