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July 29, 2005 marks the one hundredth year since the birth of Dag Hammarskjöld (wikipedia), arguable one of the most influential Swedes ever and one of the ideologists behind the modern United Nations. I think that the question on everyone’s mind is whether Hammarskjöld’s contributions were really that remarkable or if his fame is rather due to coincidence and his violent and untimely demise. Looking back, Hammarskjöld seems remarkably unremarkable as a person, but as a symbol of conviction and integrity he seems as powerful as ever. His life has interested many writers, most of which have been dealing with the unusual circumstances surrounding his death and quite a few also dwelling on Hammarskjöld’s religious interests. The image that emerges is one of a pious, conflicted and socially awkward person. A person that insisted that being a great public speaker (which Hammarskjöld certainly was not) equalled demagoguery. Suffice it to say, he was certainly an unexpected and unpleasant surprise for the nations that recruited him as an organizer but got more than they bargained for.
Some of Hammarskjöld’s achievements:
Hammarskjöld started his term by establishing his own secretariat of 4,000 administrators. He set up regulations that defined their responsibilities. He insisted that the secretary-general should be able to take emergency action without the prior approval of the Security Council or the General Assembly.During his terms, Hammarskjöld tried to soothe relations between Israel and the Arab states. In 1956 he went to mainland China to negotiate a release of 15 US pilots who had served in the Korean War and been captured by the Chinese. In 1956 he established the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF). In 1957 he intervened in the Suez Crisis.
In 1960 the newly independent Congo asked for UN aid in defusing the escalating civil strife. Hammarskjöld made four trips to Congo. In September 1960 the Soviet Union denounced his decision to send a UN force to keep the peace. They demanded his resignation and replacement of the office of secretary general with a three-man troika.
About Hammarskjöld’s stance on meddling by individual nations:
This situation worsened when a United States Senator, Joseph McCarthy, labeled the UN a nest of “Communist” spies. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) started looking into the backgrounds of American employees at the UN. By 1952, the UN was suffering a severe crisis of confidence. Lie finally realized that he had to resign before the end of his term. It came as a great surprise when, after five months of discussions, the five major powers reached agreement on the unknown Dag Hammarskjöld as the new Secretary-General. Hammarskjöld had impressed French and British negotiators in the OEEC. The Soviet Union apparently wanted to end the deadlock at the UN, and a Secretary-General from neutral Sweden was acceptable. The death of Stalin in March 1953 provided an opening to the West and created an interest in reducing tensions. In the United States, too, a new administration took office early in 1953 and listened to its European allies.Hammarskjöld’s first action was to protect the integrity of his organization against Senator McCarthy’s investigative committee and against FBI interference. First he had FBI agents removed from UN premises. Then he found a method for dealing with the Senate committee’s accusations against UN employees. According to Article 101 of the UN Charter, all employees of the UN are subordinate to the Secretary-General, not to national agencies. The fundamental principle in the UN Charter was thus to create an international civil service that would be neutral in relation to all member countries. Hammarskjöld’s background as a Swedish civil servant undoubtedly influenced his way of handling this crisis. The strength of the UN could not be measured either in arms or money, but only in its impartiality, skill and efficiency. These three qualities had been crucial to Hammarskjöld’s own career in Sweden.
By taking a firm stand against the American authorities and initiating appropriate organizational changes, Hammarskjöld improved the working climate at the UN. The position of the Secretary-General as an impartial international civil servant was emphasized. However, the task of giving the organization a prominent new global role remained. Through its actions in the Korean War, the UN was in danger of appearing to be an appendage of Western foreign ministries. Meanwhile, the West in general and the United States in particular did not seem to want to give the UN a more important role. The organization played only a limited part in ending the Indochina War in 1954. Such major European issues as the role of Germany, Berlin and Austria were handled by the victorious powers among themselves. Nuclear arms issues, to the extent they were discussed at all, also lay outside the purview of the UN.
On his unfulfilled legacy:
The UN’s financial crisis, which began during Hammarskjöld’s final years, has increasingly plagued the organization since then. One outcome is that voluntary contributions from members have become vital, which has influenced what the organization can and cannot do. Member countries have gained greater influence on the organization, including its choice of employees. The UN still has a long way to go before it achieves the ideals that Hammarskjöld established. Among other things, even today the UN Secretariat lacks one of the most important resources: a strong analytical unit, directly at the disposal of the Secretary-General. Member countries quite unnecessarily view such a unit as a danger. In actuality, it would make the organization even better suited to protecting small and medium-sized countries in a world of strong countries and dominant economic interests. This was Hammarskjöld’s dream. It still remains to be fulfilled.
The controversy regarding Hammarskjöld’s death.
On July 29, 2005, exactly 100 years after Hammarskjöld’s birth, the Norwegian Major General Bjørn Egge gave an interview to the newspaper Aftenposten on the events surrounding his death. According to Egge, who was the first UN-officer to see the body, Hammarskjöld had a hole in his forehead, and this hole was subsequently airbrushed from photos taken of the body. It appeared Hammarskjöld had been thrown from the plane, and grass and leafs in his hands could indicate that he survived the crash, and had tried to scramble away from the wreckage. Egge’s statement confirms earlier speculations.
