Does The UN Need A Charismatic Leader To Reform Or Revitalize?
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Can A Charismatic Figure Reform The United Nations?
Probably not.
When one speaks of reform one is really speaking about a subset of change. Whether it’s structure, culture or mission, change means turning the conversation into action.
A decade ago there was talk dans les couloirs that Sergio Viera de Mello, the charismatic Brazilian who had served as High Commissioner for Human Rights, was the man for the top job.
When Secretary General Kofi Annan needed someone to take on tough trouble shooting assignments, particularly in the areas of human rights and refugee affairs, he always turned to his friend Sergio Viera de Mello. Charismatic, courageous and pragmatic, he was known to many as “Sergio.”
Having served as a United Nations diplomat for 34 years in hotspots like East Timor, Kosovo, Lebanon, Rwanda and Cambodia Sergio understood that cycles of human conflict may slow but they never end. He reluctantly accepted when Annan asked him to become his special representative in Iraq in 2003. There was nobody else who possessed the skills, trustworthiness and international reputation around, and if asked today Kofi Annan, a master of the art of hindsight, would likely agree.
Sorting out the political, military and humanitarian issues associated with the United States occupation of Iraq would be Sergio’s last job, a temporary assignment.
As fate would have it, Sergio was killed when a suicide bomber parked a truck loaded with 500 pounds of explosives directly in front of his office at Baghdad’s Canal Hotel.
August 19th marks the 10th anniversary of his death.
Since his death, the United States has spent $3 trillion in an effort to democratize Iraq. By contrast, according to Reuters, the 2012-2013 UN budget was just $5.1 billion.
Since 2003, there have been 4400 American deaths, about 3500 of them combat related. While the U.S. officially withdrew all its troops in 2011 the Pentagon and the government of Iraq are now ramping up new programs involving American military trainers and consultants, and arms sales. Several online media sources indicate that around 120,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed from violence. Libraries and museums containing historical tracts and artwork were destroyed.
Meanwhile, according to the United Nations, More than 43 million people worldwide are now forcibly displaced as a result of conflict and persecution, the highest number since the mid-1990s, when Sergio was active.
In his student days at the Sorbonne in Paris Sergio wanted put his mark on what French call the human condition.
He left the police batons and barricades of the Latin Quarter behind and moved to Geneva in 1969, accepting a job as an editor with the United Nations Commission for Human Rights.
The job came at the right time. His writing in Combat, the French political newspaper made famous by Nobel laureate Albert Camus, drew the ire of the military junta in his native Brazil and it was made known that if he did return home his life could become uncomfortable. His father, a prominent Brazilian diplomat, was forced to retire from the diplomatic service.
By 1971 Sergio was part of the ground team sorting out refugee issues in Bangla Desh. The effort marked the first time a multimedia approach was used to educate the world to the plight of refugees. George Harrison, the Beatle guitarist, wrote the song Bangla Desh. A fundraising concert was held at Madison Square Garden.
Now, as show business personalities overshadow real world diplomats in the competition to be ambassadors for non-profit NGOs and foundations, Sergio’s legend can be found in biographical works, and documentary films, all accessible on the internet.
The world order is fraught with continual change made exponentially faster by the information revolution. Then too, social institutions have the propensity to step back and react when things start going too fast as with the grounding of the Concorde supersonic passenger jet. In the case of the United Nations reform could be too much of a shock. It is a culture that needs revitalization, a new self-image. Even RT, the global Russian television network, realized it needed a makeover and went to London office of McCann-Ericson, the American advertising and publicity giant.
Sergio might have had the wisdom to revitalize the UN as Secretary-General not subject it to the infighting caused by cost cutting reforms. In all probability, however, considering the three decades of exhaustive globetrotting he had done as a UN staff member the question remains whether he would have even accepted his name being put in contention. He needed a sabbatical to rest and reflect and maybe right about now, come back fresh. He got an eternity instead.
