Background

UNelections.org, an initiative launched in January 2007, emerges from a distinct, two-fold history.

Recent trend towards accountability for global leaders

For more than a decade, diverse civil society groups, governments, and progressive international organizations have been taking steps to improve the selection, election and accountability procedures of regional and international organizations. Relatively new international organizations, such as the World Trade Organization, and many other international organizations have reformed their election procedures to allow for search committees, open interviews and debates, and the regulation of conflicts of interest, all increasing the transparency of elections and selections.

Successful election of world court judges

The second feature of recent history that led WFM-IGP to initiate the UN elections campaign was the success of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC). In the 1990s the CICC, a global civil society network, took proactive measures to improve many aspects of the election process for the judges of that new world court. Significant nomination and election procedures were adopted to ensure more qualified candidates, and to enhance transparency as well as gender and regional representation, and diversity of legal systems. In 2002 the CICC created a website and campaign to ensure that the election of the first ICC judges was the most transparent and accountable process ever for election to an international tribunal. Resumes of nominees were uploaded immediately, most candidates agreed to fill out questionnaires about their qualifications, and interviews and panel discussions with candidates were held. NGOs conducted close monitoring of government vote trading and reciprocal agreements.

Despite having been told by governments, media and UN officials that it would be useless to try to improve the election process, CICC’s efforts culminated in the successful, scandal-free first election for judges, which resulted in a group of 18 qualified women and men being selected for the bench. While, of course, it cannot be said only the best candidates were chosen, none of the candidates that had been widely criticized as unqualified were elected. All agreed that the most powerful states had to campaign on a more equal footing with small and middle power countries. (Click here for more information on the election of the ICC judges.)

The ICC’s historic election offers a model for a better way to approach elections and appointments to positions of importance in the UN system, and a precedent for NGO monitoring of the selection processes.

Thus, in 2006, the World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy, in cooperation with NGOs from all regions, established another effort to campaign for more open, competent, democratic, and transparent procedures in the selection of the Secretary-General of the UN. This selection process is challenging to improve, and our efforts will be ongoing for a number of years. However, most observers have agreed that the 2006 SG selection was the most transparent to date. Governments, civil society and media were able to track nominations, research candidates, as well as to follow the “straw polls” and formal voting processes more closely than ever before.

Now WFM-IGP has expanded its efforts and will work to improve UN election and selection processes of a number of positions and offices of great international importance.