Dr.
Ghali was a
United Nations Secretary General 1991-1996. indeed one of
several Egyptian-born world figures, including jurists,
economists, politicians and intellectuals, whose talents and
expertise have been originally nurtured, developed and
polished on Egypt's soil. Dr. Ghali is indeed a unique personality of a rare
calibre. A dedicated academician specializing in international
law and politics and a specialist press writer, he was also a
political expert and thinker as well as international
diplomat. The nomination, on June 7,1991, of Dr. Boutros
Boutros Ghali to the position of the United Nations
Secretary-General was a recognition of Egypt’s regional,
African and international status as well as his intensive
expertise and skills in the field of international law and
relations.
On
November 21,1991, the Security Council unanimously passed
Resolution No 720/ 1991 at its session No 3017, proposing to
the United Nations Gener-al Assembly to appoint Dr. Ghali as
United Nations Secretary-General for the period January 1,1991
- December 31, 1996. The draft resolution (No 46/21) was
ratified at the UN General Assembly Session No 46 on December
3, 1991.
In
his address to the UN General Assembly, Dr. Ghali said, "
My affiliation to Egypt, the Arab, African, Mediterranean
country, which had been, throughout the ages, the bridgehead
for cultures and the melting-pot for the interaction of
civilizations and religions, makes it incumbent on me to adopt
a faith, which is innate and common to the belief and thinking
of every Egyptian, in peace and security as an end in itself,
and in dialogue and negotiation as a means and entente and
cooperation as a hope to be fulfilled".
On
the other hand, in his address to the UN General Assembly, Mr.
Javez Peres De Cuillar, said in appreciation of Dr. Ghali,
" I feel overwhelmingly happy to leave my critical
position in the hands of an Egyptian highly- cultured
diplomat, who enjoys prominent skill and courage, combines
experience and intelligence, maturity and dynamism and is in
the same time endowed with insight and realism".
Dr.
Ghali, the sixth secretary-General in the history of the
United Nations, was born in Cairo on November 14,1922, to a
family of highly seasoned statesmen. His grandfather was a
Prime Minister and his uncle Foreign Minister. This background
deeply influenced his career, and pushed him onto the same
path.
He
joined the Faculty of Law, Cairo University, where he obtained
his LL.B in 1946. In 1947, he obtained a Diploma in common law
at Paris University. In 1949, Ghali obtained his Ph.D. in
international law at the same university. His thesis focused
on regional organizations.
In
recognition of his academic achievement and his outstanding
role in world politics, Dr.Ghali was granted in 1968 an
honorary Ph.D. by the University of Sweden. Dr. Ghali's career
was a happy combination of multiple professions, practices and
official positions. As an academician, he taught,
international law and political sciences in Cairo University
from 1949 to 1977. He also headed the Department of political
sciences. In 1990, he was appointed Vice-Rector of Senghour
Francophonic University, Alexandria.
In
the course of his academic career, he lectured, as a visiting
professor, at a number of prominent international
universities, including:
Columbic
University, 1954, 55, 74.
Princeton
University, 1955, 74.
Warsaw
University, 1960.
The
Hague Academy, 1990. He was the first Egyptian to lecture at
and to be member of the scientific council of this university.
Rabat
University, 1969.
Dakkar
University, 1969.
Nehru
University, 1976, 1990.
Obsala
University, 1986.
Royal
Moroccan Academy, 1991.
Dr.Ghali
brought both his academic and professional skills as
university professor and press writer into play, as he
participated in founding and upgrading the Egyptian Journal of
International Law and the Egyptian Journal of Political
Sciences. He founded the economic "AI Ahram AI-Iqtisadi"
Weekly, where he acted as editor-in-chief since it was issued
by AI-Ahram Press establishment in 1959 up to 1973. He also
founded "Assiyasa Ad-Dawliya Monthly Magazine
(International Policis), where, he acted as editor-in- chief
since it was issued by the same establishment in 1965 up to
1991.
During
this period he supervised the publication of 107 issues. He
also headed the Political and Strategic Centre of AI-Ahram
Press establishment. He practised journalism from an academic
perspective. His writings in this respect, always rendered in
simplified scientific style, were used to communicate
political thought to the community.
Moreover,
he contributed several press articles in Arab and
international newspapers. In addition to his academic and
press activities, he was a member to a large number of
societies, organizations and political bodies, including:
UN
committee on International Law, since 1976.
Head,
African Society of Political Studies, 1980.
International
Law Society, 1973
Deputy
Head, Socialist International, 1990
Press
Syndicate of Egypt.
Egyptian
society of International Law.
Egyptian
society of political sciences.
Coptic
society.
The
central committee and the supreme executive committee of the
Arab Socialist Union, up to 1977.
The
Political Bureau of the National Democratic Party of Egypt.
The
People's Assembly of Egypt, since 1987.
As
a statesman, Dr.Ghali occupied several senior official
positions in Egypt.
He
was the State Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1977 to 1991.
During this period, he accompanied late President Anwar Sadat
in his trip to Israel. He also participated in the peace
negotiations between Egypt and Israel. In 1989, he was
selected Deputy head of the Egypt-Russian Friendship Society.
In May 1991, he was appointed Deputy Premier for Foreign
Relations and Emigration. On December 2, 1991, he was elected
UN Secretary-General, and resigned all his posts in Cairo on
December, 17, 1991.
Dr.
Ghali had an integrated vision of political life, which
evolved with the development of the world order. Dr. Ghali
authored 21 books in Arabic, chief of which were a
constitutional study of World organizations, 1957, studies in
International Politics, 1961, politics and Development in
Africa, 1970, and his latest "Egypt's road to Jerusalem,
1997, containing his personal memories on Egypt' s march
towards peace with Israel.
He
contributed about 45 researches in Arabic in various
publications. In addition, he authored 11 books and about 45
researches in French and English, up to 1992, chief of which
are:
Contributions
a'L'Etude des Ententes, Regeonales, 1949
Foreign
policies in a world of change, 1966.
Dr.
Ghali, during his term of office as a Secretary-General,
worked for establishing the principle of preventive diplomacy.
At the first Summit Meeting of the Security Council in January
1992, a report on a vv plan for peace" was submitted as a
starting-point of an international dialogue on the role of UN
in maintaining world peace and security Preventive Diplomacy
was determined as a priority issue. UN capability to undertake
Preventive Diplomacy was reinforced. Mandate was given for the
first time for the first preventive deployment operation under
the world organization. UN cooperation with regional
organizations for realizing peace and security was also
enhanced. Attention was given to the building of peace
following the settlement of conflict, by associating such
settlement with arrangements for uprooting the causes of
conflicts and strengthening the grounds of development.
He
was also interested in enhancing human rights protection
mechanisms under the UN framework. To this end, he appointed
an assistant Secretary-General, reporting directly to the
Secretary-General as Head of the Human Rights Centre in
Geneva, as of January 1, 1993. The protection of human rights
was linked with world peace and security.
Under
his supervision, the United Nations effectively participated
in organizing several international conferences, chief of
which were the "Earth Summit" held in Rio De
Janeiro, Brazil, 1992, the biggest in the history of UN,
"the population conference", Cairo, Egypt, 1994 and
"The Conference on Women", Bejing, China, 1995.
The
United Nations reinforced its operations addressed to the
preparation of the institutional and cultural structures of
communities to enable them to entrench the underpinnings of
and urge the application of democracy. Related to this is the
encouragement of obedience by the law in international
relations, including UN involvement in supervising elections
in several countries.
Arrangements
were made for the gradual evolution of international law,
including the encouragement of member-states to resort to the
International court of Justice for settling their conflicts
and providing legal counsel. Related to this were also the
enforcement of the UN Agreement on the law on the sea, the
passing of the resolution to indefinitely extend the validity
of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear weapons, the
creation by the security council of the Intentional Tribunals
for Crimes against Humanity in the former Yugoslavia and those
in Rwanda, and the initiation of negotiations for establishing
a permanent international criminal court.
The
development of the UN activities has required an improvement
in the organization's performance by effecting a major
institutional reform. One of the major administrative and
financial reforms led by Dr. Ghali, through Performance
Efficiency upgrading programmes, was the reduction of the UN
staff power by 25% from 12,000 to 9000 employees, Senior
positions were also reduced from 48 to 37.
The
UN balance sheet for 1996 showed a fall of about US Dollar 117
million from the previous year. Moreover, the approved balance
sheet for the last two years further showed a decline of about
US Dollar 252 million from the previous two years.
Throughout
his tenure as the UN Secretary-General, he has been always
committed to his firm belief in international peace security
and cooperation. His rich and multi-faceted personality and
his sophisticated and intensive international experience have
positively contributed to the improvement of the World
organization's performance.