Thursday, April 20 2006 12:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

United Nations: India has said the UN General Assembly should play a decisive role in the selection of the next Secretary-General rather than merely rubber stamping the 15-member Security Council's selection, a process dominated by permanent five members US, Britain, Russia, France and China.

Addressing the ad hoc committee considering revitalization of the 191-member Assembly yesterday, Indian Ambassador Nirupam Sen spelled out concrete but extremely modest proposal seeking amendment of the rules to provide for the Council to recommend at least a panel of three candidates from which one could be selected after deliberations.

The Assembly president, he said, could conduct consultations with regional groups on the panel of names to allow a consensus or at least a clear majority to emerge around a candidate. "There could also be opportunities for the candidates themselves to meet members," he told the delegates.

Currently, the Secretary-General is selected by the Council through a process in which permanent five have the decisive say and then the Assembly adopts the recommended name by acclamation.

But now the Assembly members are seeking change in a way that the selection reflects the views of 191 members and not merely 15 members so that the incumbent is more responsive to the needs of a majority of members.

As Sen put it the Secretary-General now acts as Secretary to the Council and General to the Assembly and it must be reversed so that he acts as Secretary to the Assembly and General to the Council.

Only direct and actual election by the Assembly, he said, would give the incumbent the courage to resist pressure from the permanent five.

"Only then would we have an individual who combines an inner sense of justice with sensitivity to social injustice individual creativity with sensitivity to development aspirations of the vast majority of countries: individual diplomatic and intellectual skills with respect for cultural diversity an ability to communicate with greater ability to listen: originality with the common touch and sense of common purpose," he added.

Current Secretary-General Kofi Annan is due to retire at the end of this year and a new incumbent is expected to be selected towards the end of October or early November.

The Charter provides that the Secretary-General be elected by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council.

The selection process, Sen said, is far too important to be left entirely to the Council but at the same time it should not become a divisive issue between it and the UNGA.

"The need for the General Assembly to address this issue arises from the fundamental purposes of Charter to address peace and security as well as development. A predominant Security Council role during the selection process neither provides legitimacy of the wider membership nor the crucial ownership in addressing development issues," he said.