EOSG Executive Office of the Secretary-General

According to Chapter XV of the United Nations (UN) Charter, the UN Secretary-General is the “chief administrative officer” of the Organization, and thus tasked to carry out duties and mandates delegated to him by United Nations organs including Security Council, General Assembly, and the Economic and Social Council. The Secretary-General also has the responsibility to advocate for change on key issues concerning the international community without bias toward any one Member State or region. The Secretary-General is appointed to a five-year term through a recommendation by the Security Council to the General Assembly. The current Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, was appointed in 2007. 

The Office of the Secretary-General includes the Deputy-Secretary-General (DSG), the Senior Management Group, and Special and Personal Representatives and Envoys. The position of the DSG and the Senior Management Group were established in 1997 by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, as a way to “strengthen leadership capacity in the Secretariat” and achieve greater “unity of purpose, coherence of effort, agility and responsiveness throughout the United Nations”.   These reforms have been widely lauded for increasing the efficiency and cohesiveness of the OSG, resulting in a stronger message from the UN overall on priority issues. Currently, Secretary-General Ban has identified eight key areas of focus for his office, including promoting gender equality and ending violence against women. 

Source: Office of the Secretary-General

Contact information

For further information, please visit the offical EOSG Executive Office of the Secretary-General website.