Before throwing its weight behind Ban Ki Moon, the South Korean in the leading position to succeed Kofi Annan, the British Government set out conditions that included the promise of top jobs in the United Nations for British officials. The Times quotes diplomatic sources that “unseemly’ horse-trading also involved other countries.
” ‘It was like the European states carving up Africa in the 19th century,’ one diplomat at the UN said. ‘The very same countries that lecture the UN on the need to reform and to make appointments based on merit were the ones pressing for their candidates to be given top jobs.’
“Mr Ban, the South Korean Foreign Minister, is expected to be confirmed next week by formal vote after several rounds of arcane polling by the Security Council. When a new secretary-general is appointed, all UN under-secretaries will resign to allow the new man to assemble his own team.
“The five permanent Security Council members — Britain, France, Russia, China and the United States — all have the power of veto, and have used this to press their cases for plum posts for their officials. Sir Emyr Jones Parry, the British envoy to the UN, told Mr Ban this month that early in his tenure Britain would put forward the names of at least two ‘outstanding’ candidates for top posts in the secretariat.
“In particular, the British want to reclaim the job of under-secretary-general for the Department of Political Affairs, responsible for all the main international crises, including the Middle East, Iran, North Korea and other flashpoints.”
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.