Until 2016, the UN chief was chosen behind closed doors by the five countries that hold permanent seats on the Security Council: China, France, Russia, the UK and the US. The process was unmeritocratic, opaque and other the UN's wider membership - 188 states - had no meaningful say in proceedings. It was hardly likely that this "process" would produce the best candidate for the job and clear that the status quo was damaging the credibility of the office of the Secretary-General as well as the United Nations more generally.
UNA-UK felt passionately that things needed to change. A Secretary-General can prevent wars through mediation, urge 193 governments to fulfil their global responsibilities on the environment and has to oversees 40,000 staff and 30 UN funds, programmes and agencies. Over 7 Billion people are affected by her or his decisions.
The job is too important to be decided through a secretive, highly-politicised compromise between just five countries.
For these reasons UNA-UK launched the 1 for 7 Billion campaign in 2013 to revolutionise the process.
UNA-UK's impact
In October 2016, António Guterres was confirmed as the 9th UN Secretary-General following the most open, inclusive and merit-based process in the UN's 70 year history and one which UNA-UK played an 'instrumental' role in achieving.
Guterres is widely seen as a strong choice. He has an impressive CV; a reputation for being an outspoken leader, an effective manager and a passionate advocate for the vulnerable; and a track record of standing up to powerful states and promoting gender equality.
What we did - in a nutshell
UNA-UK launched a campaign for a fair, open and inclusive selection process in 2013 more than three years before the next Secretary-General would be chosen. The national strand of the campaign focused on changing the UK Government's position from a supporter of the status quo to a Security Council advocate for reform. The international strand saw UNA-UK co-found the 1 for 7 Billion campaign - a civil society coalition which, by 2016, comprised over 750 NGOs representing over 170 million supporters worldwide - all calling for a better process to select the next Secretary General.
The campaign was widely credited as having been a major factor in the adoption of an improved process to select the UN's leader. In turn, the improved process is widely acknowledged as having made the difference in the selection of the successful candidate.
Testimonials
“Civil society, in particular, the 1 for 7 Billion campaign, was instrumental in helping secure General Assembly Resolution 69/321 and opening up the Secretary-General selection process”
Mogens Lykketoft, President of the General Assembly, 2015-2016
"The contest to replace Ban as secretary general began in April with public hearings in the UN general assembly, the first time candidates for the job had had to make their pitch in public. The new transparency was a result of a groundswell of pressure from civil society activists, in the 1 for 7 Billion movement."
Julian Borger, World affairs editor, the Guardian newspaper
“Without 1 for 7 Billion we wouldn't [have] had such a transparent process for #NextSG & such a brilliant outcome!”
Sara Pantuliano, Managing Director, Overseas Development Institute
"civil society played an important role, notably the 1 for 7 Billion campaign led by UNA-UK and others".
UK Government (as part of a January 2017 official response to a report by the House of Lords International Relations Committee on the Priorities for the next Secretary-General)
“For the first time, those vying for the job had to defend their visions for a more secure, just, and humane future in informal dialogues that the entire world could watch in real time. And these conversations mattered – there is no question that the General Assembly and other dialogues shaped perceptions, informing the Council and broader UN membership thinking from the outset”.
US Permanent Representative to the UN, Samantha Power, 2013-2017
The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations cites 1 for 7 Billion as a rare example of a successful broad based reform campaign, stating that "the kind of broad public campaign undertaken by the 1 fo 7 Billion campaign was the exception, not the rule".
The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations, Prospects for UN Renovation and Reform, Ed Luck
UNA-UK work at a national level
In 2013-14, UNA-UK's proposals for a fairer, open recruitment process gained traction with of a number of UK parliamentarians, who helped us alert the UK Government to this issue in good time for it to consider its position ahead of the 2016 selection process. During this time though, there was little appetite for change, with the UK supporting the status quo and suggesting that agreement and consensus were more important than transparency. UNA-UK was the only UK organisation campaigning on this issue.
In January 2015, after a concerted lobbying push which included grassroots actions, debates in the House of Lords, a series of parliamentary questions, parliamentary events and advocacy letters, UNA-UK had a breakthrough when the UK Government changed its position and supported increased transparency in line with our proposals.
In spring 2015, UNA-UK organised a parliamentary meeting with the UK's incoming ambassador to the UN, Matthew Rycroft, pressing him to be a champion for UNA-UK's reform agenda. A month later, ambassador Rycroft would use his maiden speech at the General Assembly to call for reform of the Secretary-General selection process.
In September 2015, UNA-UK assisted parliamentarians in securing a major debate on the issue, and the first debate on UN reform for over two decades. Having briefed parliamentarians from the major parties on 1 for 7 Billion proposals, several raised key proposals our from our briefing. Following the debate the UK Government declared its support for overhauling the selection process in favour of transparency, fairness and inclusivity.
In early 2016 we released a special issue of our magazine, focussed on 1 for 7 Billion campaign priorities and providing information and commentary on the selection process. The magazine has a readership of about 20,000 individuals and organisations in over 100 countries, including missions to the UN in New York and Geneva and 400 developing country think tanks
In February 2016, using the 70th anniversary of the appointment of the first Secretary-General to draw attention to the original process envisaged for his or her appointment. This included holding a high-profile event with the current Secretary-General attended by over 2,000 people and followed by a private lunch with key government decision-makers and influencers, at which our proposals were raised
Between April and July 2016, UNA-UK organised three major public hustings events with the majority of Secretary-General candidates in London and New York, as well as organising smaller candidate meetings under the auspices of the UN All-Party Parliamentary Group to build a constituency of interested Parliamentarians willing to support our advocacy with the UK Government
Over the following 15 months, the UK led the charge for reform from within the Security Council. Having the UK - a permanent member - play this role was an absolutely pivotal ingredient to the success of the campaign and one which UNA-UK is proud to have played a part in securing.
Work at an international level
Between 2014 and 2016, UNA-UK along with a small group of NGO partners, led the 1 for 7 Billion campaign in a three year drive to reform the UN Secretary-General selection process. Tactics focused on lobbying key members of the working group in the General Assembly responsible for reform in good time to secure a reforming General Assembly Resolution, lobbying key UN blocs ACT and NAM, releasing a map of support for our proposals to publicise which states were supporting/blocking reform, creating a broad coalition with a large presence on all continents, advocacy letters, informal meetings with missions in NY and ministers in capitals and civil society actions in countries around the world.
Key milestones
November 2014: launched the 1 for 7 Billion campaign with an open letter to world leaders calling for a fair, open and inclusive selection process.
September 2014: campaign builds profile with a provocative media stunt, placing a spoof job advertisement for the position of UN Secretary-General in The Economist: "Applications: Not welcome, Job description: none, Eligibility: Have friends in high places, Preferences: Backbone discouraged".
February 2015: The Elders announced their support for our reforms in a New York Times opinion piece. Three months later, Elder Mary Robinson (former High Commissioner for Human Rights and former President of Ireland) would make an impassioned speech on the selection process at a packed public meeting at UN headquarters, stating that maintaining the status quo is “not just unwise, but morally inexcusable”.
April 2015: Key General Assembly debate on UN reform in which a majority of states call for change. The Accountability, Coherance and Transparency bloc (27 states) and Non-Alligned Movement (120 states) both gave strong statements urging for reform and the UK ambassador used his maidon speech to address the issue, taking wording from the 1 for 7 Billion campaign: "Yesterday's debate is an excellent basis for negotiating a strong resolution, cementing an open and inclusive appointment process. The job of the SG is one of the most challenging and influential in the world, affecting the lives of seven billion people. We must now push hard to translate words into action in the tough negotiations that lie ahead. 1 for 7 Billion campaign lobbied states ahead of this meeting and used a Thunderclap with a reach of over 1 million to raise awareness. The campaign was explicitly mentioned by a number of countries during the debate.
Outreach to other NGOs - notable initiatives
- working with Global Citizen to produce an online consultation on the priorities for the next Secretary-General, which involved over 35,000 people in more than 160 countries
- working with the One World Trust to produce a series of briefings on various aspects of the Secretary-General selection process
- supporting FUNDS surveys of UN experts and staff on qualities, priorities and potential candidates for next Secretary-General
- engaging 37 United Nations Associations at the plenary meeting of the World Federation of UNAs in Canada in November 2015, where we delivered presentations and campaign workshops, screened the campaign video and ran a social media action on 1 for 7 Billion. 1 for 7 Billion gained the support of 13 new UNAs during the meeting from a wide geographic spread, including the UN Associations of Australia, Austria, Benin, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa and Switzerland.
- advocacy with UNA China and Russia to ascertain their governments’ positions on 1 for 7 Billion proposals, and to relay messages to their respective foreign ministries