Indeed, 2006 was a very good year, elections and appointments-wise. Primarily, due to the UN Secretary-General elections, but not only because of that. 2006 impressed with number of elections and candidates, campaign tricks and scandals, blogs and NGO actions…
The year started with the rather awkward and controversial appointments by the then UNSG of Mark Malloch Brown and Alicia Bárcena Ibarra as his Deputy and Chef de Cabinet, respectively. As it appears, the latter, being part of the incumbent UNSG's transition team, survived the UN "grand shuffle" with her no less controversial recent appointment as ASG for management; the former has already vacated his post and is biting his boss' successor on his recruitment policies…
Throughout the year the appointments were made at the UN lower level, like ASG for PA and ASG for GACM and a bunch of special representatives and envoys (the most curious would be the last-minute call of Annan in fixing poor former GA President Jan Eliasson – whose tenure as Swedish foreign minister lasted just a few months (and he chose that instead of running for UNSG!) – as his/Ban's envoy for Darfur).
Appointments and elections were especially noticeable in the environment domain.
In the UN system, first, it was Achim Steiner as UNEP Executive Director, then Yvo de Boer as UNFCCC Executive Secretary – and Richard Kinley (who failed to get this post) - as his Deputy. Loïc Fauchon of France has been re-elected as president of the Board of Governors of the World Water Council, his country-fellow Monique Barbut has got the seat of GEF CEO. Finally, the new Director General of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) has infamously become Julia Marton-Lefèvre, succeeding abovementioned Achim Steiner.
The UN General Assembly re-elected Anna Tibajuka as UN-HABITAT Executive Director and "appointed" Ban Ki-moon as the UN’s next Secretary-General. Ban is expected to bring a new vision of the Secretariat with the USGs and ASGs appointments during the next three months…
The November elections of the International Telecommunication Union displayed the majority support for Hamadoun TOURE as the new Secretary-General. The World Health Organization, from among 13 contenders, chose Margaret CHAN as its new Director-General.
Josette SHEERAN was appointed the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, having caused the debates on what the new UNSG's top posts recruitment actually would be...
Two correlated bodies had their own elections, consequently having obtained Esteban PACHA VICENTE as Director of the International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO) and having reappointed Efthimios Mitropoulos as Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization.
Among the failures, we have to state the long-run processes of appointing the heads of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Thanks to e-mails of the insiders and (many!) enthusiasts, we will be keeping an eye on these appointments (of course, we'll get back to the Appointments-2006, they're just the best food-for-thought before the upcoming stuff!) .
It must be natural that after so many events the world will have a rest with filling in the top posts. In fact, even two of them scheduled for 2007 – No.1 of the IMO (see above) and the Secretary-General of the NATO were made beforehand (funny enough, the latter re-appointment of Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was actually made "to enable him to prepare and preside over the events marking the 60th anniversary of the Alliance in 2009". So, it's like for the next two years the anniversary is going to be NATO's primary concern... Yeah, and who else could prepare it except the Dutchman?:)
So, what's left? There's going to be regular appointments in some intergovernmental bodies (like that of the President of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)) and regional organizations and fora (e.g., Director of the Balkan Regional Center for Combating Trans-Border Crime).
The largest deals, however, are expected to take place in New York, at the UN Secretariat (although, part of them will surely concern the UN bodies elsewhere). The process has already started, with Ban's first five appointments, but the puzzle's going to be made beginning today…
Prepare for entertainment!
Indeed, 2006 was a very good year, elections and appointments-wise. Primarily, due to the UN Secretary-General elections, but not only because of that. 2006 impressed with number of elections and candidates, campaign tricks and scandals, blogs and NGO actions… 
2 comments:
Oh you forgot the musical chair at WIPO for the 4 DDG posts and the ADG posts
Thanks, the beaver!
In fact, the WIPO appointments represent a very interesting case: shortly, I'll reflect on them with regard to the "regional representation" notion (perhaps, you're aware of what was debated at the WIPO at the time of these appointments?).
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