Sent to WS and Blog
OMNI Dag Hammarskjöld NEWSLETTER #1, OCTOBER 19, 2013. Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of
Peace, Justice, and Ecology.
Contents
Wikipedia Bio
Lipsey, Hammarskjold:
A Life (2013)
Markings
Film: Visions of a Secretary-General: Dag
Hammarskjold and the United Nations 1953-1961
Google Search
Books on H. at UA’s Mullins Library, Search August 4,
2013
From Wikipedia, the
free encyclopedia
Dag Hjalmar Agne
Carl Hammarskjöld (Swedish: [dɑːg
ˈhamːarɧœld] (
 listen);
29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish diplomat, economist, and
author. The second Secretary-General of the
United Nations, he served from April 1953 until his death in a
plane crash in September 1961. He is among three other people to be awarded a
posthumous Nobel Prize.[1] Hammarskjöld remains the only U.N.
Secretary-General to die in office, and his death occurred en route to cease-fire negotiations. American President John F.
Kennedy called
Hammarskjöld "the greatest statesman of our century".[2]
Contents
·
3 Death
·
4 Honors
·
5 Legacy
Early life[ | ]
Hammarskjöld's birth house
Dag Hammarskjöld was born
in Jönköping,
From 1930 to 1934,
Hammarskjöld was Secretary on a governmental committee on unemployment.
During this time he wrote his economics thesis, "Konjunkturspridningen"
("The Spread of the Business Cycle"), and received a doctorate from Stockholm University.[3] In 1936, he became a Secretary at
the Sveriges Riksbank and was soon promoted. From 1941 to
1948, he served as Chairman of the bank.
Dag Hammarskjöld quickly
developed a successful career as a public servant in
He helped coordinate
government plans to alleviate the economic problems of the post-war period.
He was a delegate to the
UN Secretary-General[ | ]
Hammarskjöld outside the UN headquarters in
When Trygve Lie resigned from his post as UN Secretary-General in 1953, the United Nations Security Councilrecommended
Hammarskjöld for the post. It came as a surprise to him.[4] Seen as a competent technocrat without political views, he was
selected on 31 March by a majority of 10 out of eleven Security Council
members. The UN General Assembly elected him in the 7–10 April session by 57
votes out of 60. In 1957, he was re-elected.
Hammarskjöld began his
term by establishing his own secretariat of 4,000 administrators and setting
up regulations that defined their responsibilities. He was also actively
engaged in smaller projects relating to the UN working environment. For
example, he planned and supervised in every detail the creation of a
"meditation room" in the UN
headquarters. This is a place dedicated to silence where people
can withdraw into themselves, regardless of their faith, creed, or religion.[5]
During his term,
Hammarskjöld tried to smooth relations between Israel and the Arab states.
Other highlights include a 1955 visit to China to
negotiate release of 15 captured US pilots who had served in the Korean War,
the 1956 establishment of theUnited Nations Emergency Force, and his
intervention in the 1956 Suez Crisis.
He is given credit by some historians for allowing participation of the Holy See within the United Nations that year.[6]
In 1960, the former Belgian Congo and then newly independent Congo asked for UN aid in defusing the Congo Crisis.
Hammarskjöld made four trips to the
Death[ | ]
Flight path of Hammarskjöld's aircraft (pink line) and the decoy (black
line), September 1961
Hammarskjöld's grave in
In September 1961, Hammarskjöld
learned about fighting between "non-combatant" UN forces and Katangesetroops
of Moise Tshombe.
He was en route to negotiate a cease-fire on 18 September when his Douglas DC-6airliner
SE-BDY crashed near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).
Hammarskjöld and fifteen others perished in the crash.
A special report issued
by the United Nations following the crash stated that a bright flash in the
sky was seen at approximately 1:00.[9] According to the UN special report,
it was this information that resulted in the initiation of search and rescue
operations. Initial indications that the crash might not have been an
accident led to multiple official inquiries and persistent speculation that
the Secretary-General was assassinated.[10]
Hammarskjöld's death was
a memorable event. The Dag Hammarskjöld Crash Site
Memorial is under
consideration for inclusion as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A press release
issued by the Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo stated that,
"... in order to pay a tribute to this great man, now vanished from the
scene, and to his colleagues, all of whom have fallen victim to the shameless
intrigues of the great financial Powers of the West... the Government has
decided to proclaim Tuesday, 19 September 1961, a day of national
mourning."[9]
Official inquiry[ | ]
Following the death of
Hammarskjöld, there were three inquiries into the circumstances that led to
the crash:[11] the Rhodesian Board of
Investigation, the Rhodesian Commission of Inquiry, and the United Nations
Commission of Investigation.
The Rhodesian Board of
Investigation looked into the matter between 19 September 1961 and 2 November
1961[11]under
the command of British Lt. Colonel M.C.B. Barber. The Rhodesian Commission of
Inquiry held hearings from 16–29 January 1962 without United Nations
oversight. The subsequent United Nations Commission of Investigation held a
series of hearings in 1962 and in part depended upon the testimony from the
previous Rhodesian inquiries.[11] Five "eminent persons"
were assigned by the new Secretary-General to the UN Commission. The members
of the commission unanimously elected Nepalese diplomat Rishikesh
Shaha to head an
inquiry.[11]
The three official
inquiries failed to determine conclusively the cause of the crash that led to
the death of Hammarskjöld. The Rhodesian Board of Investigation sent 180 men
to search a six-square-kilometer area of the last sector of the aircraft's
flight-path, looking for evidence as to the cause of the crash. No evidence
of a bomb, surface-to-air missile, or hijacking was
found. The official report stated that two of the dead Swedish bodyguards had
suffered multiple bullet wounds. Medical examination, performed by the
initial Rhodesian Board of Investigation and reported in the UN official
report, indicated that the wounds were superficial, and that the bullets
showed no signs of rifling.
They concluded that the bullets exploded in the fire in close proximity to
the bodyguards.[11] No other evidence of foul play was
found in the wreckage of the aircraft.[12]
Previous accounts of a
bright flash in the sky were dismissed as occurring too late in the evening
to have caused the crash. The UN report speculated that these flashes may
have been caused by secondary explosions after the crash. The sole survivor,
Sergeant Harold Julien, indicated that there was a series of explosions that
preceded the crash.[11][13] The official inquiry found that the
statements of witnesses who talked with Julien before he died in hospital
five days after the crash[14] were inconsistent.
The report states that
there were numerous delays that violated the established search and rescue
procedures. There were three separate delays: the first delayed the initial
alarm of a possible plane in trouble; the second delayed the
"distress" alarm, which indicates that communications with
surrounding airports indicate that a missing plane has not landed elsewhere;
the third delayed the eventual search and rescue operation and the discovery
of the plane wreckage, just miles away. The medical examiners report was
inconclusive; one report said that Hammarskjöld had died on impact; another
stated that Hammarskjöld might have survived had rescue operations not been
delayed.[11] The report also said that the
chances of Sgt. Julien surviving the crash would have been
"infinitely" better if the rescue operations had been hastened.[11]
Alternative theories[ | ]
Despite the multiple
official inquiries that failed to find evidence of assassination, some
continue to believe that the death of Hammarskjöld was not an accident.[10]
At the time of
Hammarskjöld's death, Western intelligence agencies were actively involved in
the political situation in the Congo,[10] which culminated in Belgian and
United States support for the secession of
Katanga and the
assassination of former prime minister Patrice
Lumumba.
The involvement of
British officers in commanding the initial inquiries, which provided much of
the information about the condition of the plane and the examination of the
bodies, has led some to suggest a conflict of interest.[10][15] The official report dismissed a
number of pieces of evidence that would have supported the view that
Hammarskjöld was assassinated.[11] Some of these dismissals have been
controversial, such as the conclusion that bullet wounds could have been
caused by bullets exploding in a fire. Expert tests have questioned this
conclusion, arguing that exploding bullets could not break the surface of the
skin.[10][11] Major C. F. Westell, a ballistics
authority, said, "I can certainly describe as sheer nonsense the
statement that cartridges of machine guns or pistols detonated in a fire can
penetrate a human body."[16] He based his statement on a large
scale experiment that had been done to determine if military fire brigades
would be in danger working near munitions depots. Other Swedish experts
conducted and filmed tests showing that bullets heated to the point of
explosion nonetheless did not achieve sufficient velocity to penetrate their
box container.[16]
Sir Denis Wright, the
then British ambassador to Ethiopia,
in his annual report for 1961 establishes linkage of Hammarskjold's death to
British refusal to allow an Ethiopian military plane carrying troops destined
to join the UN mission, landing at Entebbe and over-flying British-controlled
On 19 August 1998,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
chairman of South Africa's Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC),
stated that recently uncovered letters had implicated the British MI5, the American CIA, and then South
African intelligence services in the crash.[18] One TRC letter said that a bomb in
the aircraft's wheel bay was set to detonate when the wheels came down for a
landing. Tutu said that they were unable to investigate the truth of the
letters or the allegations that
On 29 July 2005,
Norwegian Major General Bjørn Egge gave an interview to the newspaper Aftenposten on the events surrounding
Hammarskjöld's death. According to General Egge, who had been the first UN
officer to see the body, Hammarskjöld had a hole in his forehead, and this
hole was subsequentlyairbrushed from
photos taken of the body. It appeared to Egge that Hammarskjöld had been
thrown from the plane, and grass and leaves in his hands might indicate that
he survived the crash – and that he had tried to scramble away from the
wreckage. Egge does not claim directly that the wound was a gunshot wound.[20]
In his speech to the 64th
session of the United Nations General Assembly on 23 September 2009, Colonel
Gaddafi called upon
the Libyan president of UNGA,Ali Treki, to institute a UN investigation into the
assassinations of Congolese prime minister, Patrice
Lumumba, who was overthrown in 1960 and murdered the following
year, and of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld in 1961.[21]
According to a dozen
witnesses interviewed by Swedish aid worker Göran Björkdahl in the 2000s
(decade), Hammarskjöld's plane was shot down by another aircraft. Björkdahl
also reviewed previously unavailable archive documents and internal UN
communications. He believes that there was an intentional shootdown for the
benefit of mining companies like Union Minière.[22][23][24] A
Honors[ | ]
·
Hammarskjöld posthumously
received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961, having been nominated
before his death.
·
Honorary degrees: The Carleton University in
·
On 6 April 2011, the Bank of Sweden announced that Hammarskjöld's image
will be used on the 1000 kronor banknote, the highest-denomination
banknote in
Legacy[ | ]
·
John F.
Kennedy: After Hammarskjöld's death,
·
Refusal to resign: One of
Hammarskjöld's greatest moments was refusing to give in to Soviet pressure to
resign. Dag Hammarskjöld: "It is very easy to bow to the wish of a big
power. It is another matter to resist it. If it is the wish of those nations
who see the organization their best protection in the present world, I shall
do so again."[29]
·
In 2011 The Financial Times reported that Hammarskjöld has
remained the benchmark against which later UN Secretary-Generals have been
judged.[30]
·
Historians' views:
·
Historian Paul Kennedy hailed Hammarskjöld in his book The Parliament of Man as perhaps the greatest UN
Secretary-General because of his ability to shape events, in contrast with
his successors.
·
In contrast, the
conservative popular
historian Paul Johnson in A
History of the Modern World from 1917 to the 1980s (1983) was highly critical of his
judgment.
·
Libraries:
·
The Dag Hammarskjöld Library, a part of the United Nations headquarters, was
dedicated on 16 November 1961 in honour of the late Secretary-General.
·
The
Dag Hammarskjöld Library in
There
is also a Dag Hammarskjöld Library at his alma mater,
·
Buildings and rooms:
·
Columbia University: The School of
International and Public Affairs at
·
Stanford University: Dag Hammarskjöld House
on the
·
The Geneva School
of Diplomacy and International Relations in
·
Dag Hammarskjöld Stadium is the main football stadium of Ndola, Zambia.
Hammarskjold's ill-fated flight in 1961 crashed in the outskirts of
Portrait medallion of the late UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld,
sculpted by Trickett Mercer of
·
Streets:
·
Dag Hammarskjölds Gade is
a street in Aalborg,
·
Dag Hammarskjölds Väg is
one of the longest streets in
·
Dag Hammarskjöld's Allé is
a street in Copenhagen,
·
The headquarters of the United Nations
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) in Santiago,
Chile lies on
Avenida Dag Hammarskjöld.
·
The headquarters of the
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (German Society for
International Cooperation, GIZ),
is on Dag-Hammarskjöld-Weg in Eschborn,
·
Dag Hammarskjöldlaan is a
street in the town of Castricum,
The Netherlands.
·
·
Religious commemoration:
He is also commemorated as a peacemaker in the Calendar of Saints of theEvangelical Lutheran Church in
America on 18
September of each year.
·
Schools: A number of
schools have been named after Hammarskjöld, including Hammarskjold Middle School inEast Brunswick Township, New Jersey; Dag Hammarskjold Middle School in Wallingford, Connecticut; Dag Hammarskjold Elementary School in Parma, Ohio; Dag
Hammarskjold Elementary (PS 254) in Brooklyn,
New York; Dag Hammarskjold Elementary School in Oakland (now an airport
parking business) and Hammarskjold High School in Thunder Bay,
Ontario.
The
Dag Hammarskjöld centre in
In
1962, the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation was created as
·
Memorial awards:
·
Medal: On 22 July 1997,
the U.N. Security Council in resolution 1121(1997) established the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal in recognition and commemoration of
those who have lost their lives as a result of UN peacekeeping operations.[33]
·
Prize in Peace and
Conflict Studies: Colgate University annually awards a student the Dag
Hammarskjöld Prize in Peace and Conflict Studies based on outstanding work in
the program.[34]
·
Medallion by the sculptor
Harald Salomon issued in
1962
Medal Dag Hammarskjöld by the Danish sculptor Harald Salomon
·
Postage Stamps: Many
countries issued postage stamps commemorating Hammarskjöld.[35] The United Nations Postal
Administration issued
5 and 15-cent stamps in 1962. They show the UN flag at half-mast and bear the simple inscription,
"XVIII IX MCMLXI". The United States Hammarskjöld commemorative
4-cent value postage stamp, issued on 23 October 1962, was actually released
twice. Famous for its misprint, the second issue is often referred to as the Dag Hammarskjöld invert.
Spirituality and Markings[ | ]
In 1953, soon after his
appointment as United Nations secretary general, Hammarskjöld was interviewed
on radio byEdward R. Murrow. In this talk he declared:
"But the explanation of how man should live a life of active social
service in full harmony with himself as a member of the community of spirit,
I found in the writings of those great medieval mystics [Meister
Eckhart and Jan van Ruysbroek] for whom 'self-surrender'
had been the way to self-realization, and who in 'singleness of mind' and
'inwardness' had found strength to say yes to every demand which the needs of
their neighbours made them face, and to say yes also to every fate life had
in store for them when they followed the call of duty as they understood
it."[36]
His only book, Vägmärken (Markings), was published in
1963. A collection of his diary reflections, the book starts in 1925, when he
was 20 years old, and ends at his death in 1961.[37] This diary was found in his
The
Bibliography[ | ]
·
Durel, Bernard, op,
(2002), «Au jardin secret d’un diplomate suédois: Jalons de Dag Hammarskjöld, un itinéraire
spirituel», La Vie
Spirituelle (Paris). T. 82,
pp. 901–922.
·
Lipsey, Roger Hammarskjold: A Life (
·
Urquhart, Brian, (1972), Hammarskjold. Alfred A.
Knopf,
·
Velocci, Giovanni, cssr,
(1998), «Hammarskjold Dag», in Luigi Borriello, ocd – Edmondo Caruana, ocarm
– Maria Rosaria Del Genio – N. Suffi (dirs.),Dizionario di mistica.
Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano, pp. 624–626.
See also[ | ]
References[ | ]
2.
^ a b Linnér S (2007). "Dag
Hammarskjöld and the Congo crisis, 1960–61" (PDF). Uppsala University. p. Page 28.
4.
^ Sheldon, Richard (1987). Hammarskjöld.
8.
^ Dag Hammarskjøld, D. H. 1961,http://www.daghammarskjold.se/biography/.
Dag Hammarskjøld Foundation.
9.
^ a b "Special
Report on the Fatal Flight of the Secretary-General's Aircraft" (PDF). United Nations. 19 September 1961. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
10.
^ a b c d e f Hollington, Kris (August 2008). Wolves, Jackals and Foxes.Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 978-0-312-37899-8.
11.
^ a b c d e f g h i j United Nations General Assembly session 17 Report of the Commission of
investigation into the conditions and circumstances resulting in the tragic
death of Mr Dag Hammarskjold and members of the party accompanying him. on 24 April 1962(direct link:http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/5069)
12.
^ Macarthur Job, Air Disaster Volume 4, Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd, 2001 ISBN
1-875671-48-X, p 142
13.
^ "1961: UN
Secretary General killed in air crash". BBC. 18 November 1961. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
15.
^ "Matthew Hughes · Diary: The
Man Who Killed Hammarskjöld? · LRB 9 August 2001". Lrb.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
16.
^ a b Arthur Gavshon (1962). The Mysterious Death of Dag Hammarskjold.
18.
^ "Notes for Media Briefing By
Archbishop" – by Desmond Tutu, Chairperson of the Truth And
Reconciliation Commission – 19 August 1998 –http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/1998/98820_0x1539810364.htm
22.
^ "Dag
Hammarskjöld: evidence suggests UN chief's plane was shot down".
The Guardian. 17 August 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
23.
^ I have no
doubt Dag Hammarskjöld's plane was brought down, Göran Björkdahl,
The Guardian, 2011 Aug 17
25.
^ BBC News Magazine, 18 Sep 2–11, "Dag
Hammarskjold: Was His Death a Crash or a Conspiracy?," http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14913456
27.
^ Mary Cherif, Nathalie Leroy, Anna
Banchieri, Armando Da Silva. "Dag Hammarskjöld: The Un
Years". Un.org. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
28.
^ "Sveriges
Riksbank/Riksbanken – Sweden's new banknotes and coins".
Riksbank.com.
Retrieved 2011-09-19.
30.
^ Alec Russell (13 May 2011). "The road
to redemption". The Financial Times. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
32.
^ "Convening thinkers and doers:
Sweden's Dag Hammarskjold Foundation". Interenvironment.org.
25 November 1975.
Retrieved 2011-09-19.
33.
^ United Nations Security Council Verbatim
Report meeting 3802 on 22 July 1997 (retrieved 2007-08-21)
36.
^ Henry P Van Dusen. Dag Hammarskjold. A
Biographical Interpretation of Markings Faber and Faber London 1967 p 47.
38.
^ Auden, with Leif Sjoberg, translated the
book into English. Hammarskjold,
Dag (1964). Markings.
39.
^ Henry P Van Dusen. Dag Hammarskjold. A
Biographical Interpretation of Markings Faber and Faber London 1967 p 5
40.
^ Dag Hammarskjold. Markings Leif Sjoberg and
WH Auden (trans) Faber and Faber London 1964 p 63.
42.
^ WH Auden Foreword to Dag Hammarskjold.
Markings Leif Sjoberg and WH Auden (trans) Faber and Faber London 1964 p 23.
External links[ | ]
·
UNSG Ban
Ki-Moon Lays Wreath Honouring Dag Hammarskjold of 1 October 2009 and UNSG with King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
·
About Dag
Hammarskjöld (Dag
Hammarskjöld Foundation)
·
Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General at the official website of the UN
·
Audio of Dag
Hammarskjold's response to Russian pressure From UPI Audio Archives
·
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REVIEW: Roger Lipsey’s 'Hammarskjöld: A Life'
Monday, August 26, 2013 - 20:14
Reviewed by Winslow Myers
Roger Lipsey has produced a magisterially comprehensive portrait of
the second Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Dag Hammarskjöld, in his 2013 book “Hammarskjöld: A Life"
(University of Michigan Press, 752 pages, $25.79, available at Amazon.com and
other sources).
Lipsey’s achievement is all the more remarkable because at first
glance Hammarskjöld appears to be, in the combination of his
monastic bachelor dedication to his role and his veiled diplomatic tact, a
uniquely unknowable person.
As
Secretary-General, what kept him steadily moving forward against the
gale-force winds of chaos, violence, and cynical double-dealing by
governments was his systematic subjugation of individual will to a fervent
wish to be used by God. Brought up in Swedish Protestant Christianity, a deep
reader of the Christian mystics, Hammarskjöld not
only valued, but actually lived, what he called “stillness,” a creative
discipline that enabled him to stay flexibly creative in the welter of such
events as the Suez crisis of 1956, when he was one of the first to initiate
the exhausting process of shuttle diplomacy.
The working heart of Lipsey’s approach is to subtly tie the
entries in “Markings,” Hammarskjöld’s spiritual poetry, a
number of which are specifically dated, to the stream of acute international
crises in which Hammarskjöld was crucially
involved, including the battle for Congolese independence, during which he
lost his life in a plane crash—a crash that may not have been accidental. Hammarskjöld’s refusal to compromise his impartiality,
his total loyalty to the principles of U.N. Charter, was seen by his enemies
as a kind of partiality in itself, in the spirit of “if you’re not with us
you’re against us”—that all-too-familiar accelerant of alienation and war.
Even as he describes Hammarskjöld’s
difficulties with the prickly egotism of heads of state, Lipsey has managed
to absorb some of the spirit of Hammarskjöld himself—as
found in this quotation from an interview Hammarskjöld did
with a journalist: “A certain humility
. . . helps you to see things through the other person’s eye, to reconstruct
his case, without losing yourself, without being a chameleon, if you see what
I mean.” Inspired by Hammarskjöld, Lipsey
takes considerable pains to search out the universal humanity beneath the
arrogance of figures like Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union and French
General Charles de Gaulle.
As this is being written, a gas attack that killed hundreds of
civilians in
But
public opinion in the
Given that challenges like nuclear disarmament and global
climate change cannot be resolved by any nation working alone, national and
international interests are inevitably merging. Surely this has a bearing
upon how diplomats everywhere ought to be oriented in their training. If
foreign service officers are unable to see the equal humanity of their
counterparts in other cultures, if a spirit of international mutuality does
not penetrate the narrowness of self-interested realpolitik, we will be left
with the no-win of “you’re either with us or against us.” Surely there must
be room for more of the Hammarskjöld spirit,
a conviction that it is possible to identify something common in the
interests of one’s own country and the interests of all countries.
The tragedy is that statesmen like Dr. Kissinger or General Colin
Powell spend their careers in the obedient service of ostensibly American
interests, but then, in the backward-glancing wisdom of retirement, they
advocate eloquently—not that we shouldn’t be grateful, better late than
never—for planet-oriented goals like the total abolition of nuclear
weapons. Hammarskjöld, speaking to a group of American governors,
understood this process with laser clarity:
“It is one of the surprising
experiences of one in the position of the Secretary-General of the United
Nations to find in talks with leaders of many nations, both political leaders
and leaders in spiritual life, that the view expressed, the hopes nourished,
and the trust reflected, in the direction of reconciliation, go far beyond
what is usually heard in public. What is it that makes it so difficult to
bring this basic attitude more effectively to bear upon the determination of
policies? The reasons are well known to us all. It might not be understood by
the constituency, or it might be abused by competing groups, or it might be
misinterpreted as a sign of weakness by the other part. And so the game goes
on—toward an unforeseeable conclusion.”
At some indefinable point in time, which many believe is
already behind us, the need for separate nations either to maintain their
grotesque stockpiles of nuclear weapons or to refuse to adjust their economic
goals for the sake of climate stability, is going to be trumped by the
reality that the status quo carries more risks than the risks of cooperation
toward common survival goals. Over this
fateful paradigm shift hovers the benign, tenacious, far-seeing spirit of
Dag Hammarskjöld.
•••••
Winslow Myers leads seminars on the
challenges of personal and global change, is the author of “Living
Beyond War: A Citizen’s Guide,” serves on the advisory board of the War
Prevention Initiative, and writes for PeaceVoice. http://www.peacevoice.info/
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Documentary film. Visions of a
Secretary-General: Dag Hammarskjöld
and the United Nations 1953-1961.
A film by Stig Holmqvist, produced by Göran Gun
Visions of a
Secretary General: Dag Hammarskjöld and the United Nations 1953-1961
A finely –tuned portrait using newly recorded interviews, and archival film and photo material gives a sense of Dag Hammarskjöld as a person, his struggles during the cold War and his death in a plane crash inAfrica . Available in English and Swedish on DVD from the UN
Bookstore, or from Athena Films www.athenafilms.se
A finely –tuned portrait using newly recorded interviews, and archival film and photo material gives a sense of Dag Hammarskjöld as a person, his struggles during the cold War and his death in a plane crash in
Remarks
at High-Level Commemorative Event: "Dag Hammarskjöld's Legacy for UN
Preventive Diplomacy in the 21st Century"
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UN Headquarters,
22 September 2011
Your Excellency, Prime Minister [Fredrik] Reinfeldt of Sweden,
Your Excellency, Foreign Minister [Carl] Bildt of Sweden,
Your Excellency, Ambassador [Mårten] Grunditz of Sweden,
Your Excellency, former Foreign Minister [Lakhdar] Brahimi,
Under-Secretary-General [Michelle] Bachelet,
Former Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights [Bertrand] Ramcharan,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Your Excellency, Foreign Minister [Carl] Bildt of Sweden,
Your Excellency, Ambassador [Mårten] Grunditz of Sweden,
Your Excellency, former Foreign Minister [Lakhdar] Brahimi,
Under-Secretary-General [Michelle] Bachelet,
Former Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights [Bertrand] Ramcharan,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am
honoured to participate in this very meaningful event, remembering and paying
tribute to my eminent predecessor.
It is
fitting that we meet here, in the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium, to remember the
legacy of a Secretary-General who did so much to shape this organization, as
well as the role of Secretary-General itself.
Allow me
to share a personal recollection.
Just a
few weeks after I took office as Secretary-General, I came here, to this
auditorium, for the first time.
Although
I was the head of the United Nations, I sat quietly in the back, in the dark. I
did not make any speeches at the time. I was here to simply watch a movie
screening of in memory of Dag Hammarskjöld.
The documentary film was called, “The Vision of a
Secretary-General.” And it opened my eyes.
Of course
I had read the writings of my predecessor.
But
nothing compared to watching his words and deeds come alive in this film at the
dawn of my own term in office -- an office he did so much to defend and define.
I was
deeply moved by Hammarskjöld's integrity, his intelligence and his idealism.
And I am so honoured now to take part in various commemorations
of the fiftieth anniversary of his death.
One modest way I am marking this milestone is to dedicate to Dag
Hammarskjöld my new report, Preventive Diplomacy: Delivering Results. I have
just come from the Security Council where I presented this report and I made my
speech there.
I am therefore all the more encouraged to see preventive
diplomacy as the theme of this event.
Hammarskjöld articulated the very concept of preventive
diplomacy.
He spoke about how to use the preventive capabilities of the UN
“to forestall the emergence of conflicts.” He knew that the UN was best-placed
to carry out what he rightly called this “arduous and time consuming” work.
My own efforts in preventive diplomacy have benefited from an
understanding that has grown among Member States since Hammarskjöld's time:
that calming tensions is far less costly in financial and human terms than
coping with the effects of violent conflicts.
Yes, there are risks. Yes, the challenges are evolving. But I
share Dag Hammarskjöld's abiding belief that preventive diplomacy is a constant
and essential work in progress.
Allow me to share with you Dag Hammarskjöld's words to the
American Political Science Association in September 1954. They are the same
words I used to preface my report dedicated to Dag Hammarsköld. And I quote: “I
believe we have only begun to explore the full potentialities of the United
Nations as an instrument for multilateral diplomacy, especially the most useful
combinations of public discussion on the one hand and private negotiations and
mediation on the other.” End quote.
All of you in this room know how true those words are to this
day, the delicate balance between public and quiet diplomacy, the choice
between mediation and direct talks.
Many of you here have deep experience negotiating peace
agreements, standing up for women's rights and human rights, working on the
frontlines of peacekeeping and peacebuilding.
And Foreign Minister Bildt, you yourself have served not only
your country but the international community, including the United Nations.
This past Sunday, during your visit to the Hammarskjöld Memorial
Site at Ndola
I will always be inspired by Dag Hammarskjöld's example of
courage and conviction. His life was too short. His legacy is eternal.
Thank you.
1.
Commemoration 1961-2011 | Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation
Sep 18, 2011 - Documentary: The Vision of a Secretary-General – Dag Hammarskjöld and
the UN including a Q&A opportunity after the film with Peter ...
2.
United Nations News Centre - Remarks at High-Level ...
www.un.org/apps/news/infocus/sgspeeches/statments_full.asp?statID...
Sep 22, 2011 - It is fitting that we
meet here, in the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium, ...The documentary film was called, “The Vision of a Secretary-General.
3.
Preventive Diplomacy 'a Constant and Essential Work in
Progress ...
www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/sgsm13837.doc.htm
Sep 22, 2011 - Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's remarks at
the commemorative ... It is fitting that we
meet here, in the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium,... The documentary film was called, The Vision of a Secretary-General.
4.
Dag Hammarskjöld: "A Man of the Next Generation" | United Nations ...
www.unesco.org/.../dag_hammarskjoeld_a_man_of_the_next_generatio...
Dec 13, 2011 - The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld, ...Dag Hammarskjöld was a person of vision and principle, and at
the same ...
5.
Dag Hammarskjöld - Wikiquote
en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dag_Hammarskjöld
Servant of Peace : A Selection of the
Speeches and Statements of Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary General of the United Nations (1962), p. 107; this
has ...
6.
Key books: a brief Hammarskjöld bibliography - Dag Hammarskjold
www.dag-hammarskjold.com/.../select-bibliography-by-and-about-dag-h...
Documentary film. Visions of a
Secretary-General: Dag Hammarskjöld and
the United Nations 1953-1961. A film by Stig Holmqvist,
produced by Göran Gun
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Lipsey, Roger
c2013
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c1983
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Dayal, Rajeshwar, 1909-
c1976
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Urquhart, Brian
1972
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Mall, Viktor
Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1969
1969
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Simon, Charlie May Hogue, 1897-
1967
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Stolpe, Sven, 1905-
1966
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Miller, Richard I. (Richard Isaac), 1929-
[
1962
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Lash, Joseph P., 1909-
Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1961
1961
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Highly relevant titles
entries 10-43
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To speak for the world : speeches and statements by Dag Hammarskjöld,
Secretary-General of the Unite
Hammarskjöld, Dag, 1905-1961
c2005
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Symposium : Fortieth Anniversary of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library :
Legacy of a Secretary-General : U
Symposium : Fortieth Anniversary of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library
: Legacy of a Secretary-General (2002 : Dag Hammarskjöld Library)
2003
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