http://www.lowlevelpanel.org Low Level Panel - UN reform from the grassroots Wed, 20 Sep 2006 16:27:55 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Want to know how the SG is selected? Here is a summary. http://www.lowlevelpanel.org/?p=83 WFP's free video game - Food Force - has notched up impressive coverage since it was launched in April 2005. Hats off to WFP and to the game designers and programmers. The game looks slick. And the Food Force website claims more than three million players - with English, Japanese ... http://www.lowlevelpanel.org/?p=82 When most people talk about reform of the United Nations, they talk about big reforms – changing mandates, merging agencies, restructuring the Security Council. High level reforms are hugely political and famously difficult to agree – look at 2005’s World Summit in New York for example. Large reforms are only ... http://www.lowlevelpanel.org/?p=80 Ralph Bunche, the first UN official ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize, said that the UN exists "not merely to preserve the peace but also to make change--even radical change--possible without violent upheaval. The United Nations has no vested interest in the status quo." http://www.lowlevelpanel.org/?p=79 Last week’s budget compromise in the UN General Assembly seems to be a satisfactory, albeit interim, measure to ensure funding for the Secretariat for the first half of 2006 without perpetuating the status quo. Maintaining momentum for meaningful management reform is critical, so it is helpful that member states ... http://www.lowlevelpanel.org/?p=78 "If there's one thing I would like to hand over to my successor when I leave office next year, is that it should be a United Nations that is fit for the many varied tasks and challenges we are asked to take on today," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told reporters ... http://www.lowlevelpanel.org/?p=77 The US permanent representative to the UN said this week that the US will be looking for a "superior administrative officer" as the next SG. The UN's Charter mentions the role of the SG only briefly - explicitly referring to the SG's internal role as the chief administrative officer, and ... http://www.lowlevelpanel.org/?p=76 The Secretariat's whistleblower policy comes into force on 1 January 2006. Whistleblower Policy http://www.lowlevelpanel.org/?p=75 Member States are supposed to approve the UN regular budget for 2006 and 2007 by 31 December. The US has proposed passing a budget for only four or six months in order to allow the budget to be shaped by the various UN reform proposals the Secretary-General is expected to ... http://www.lowlevelpanel.org/?p=74 Louise Fréchette, as Deputy Secretary-General, is the second-highest ranking official in the United Nations. The post also has a lot of responsibility over the Secretariat's internal reform agenda. Ms Fréchette announced last week that she will depart the Secretariat in April next year. Intelligent design could turn her departure into ... http://www.lowlevelpanel.org/?p=73