Blue Smoke

Shining a light on UN elections & senior appointments

Category: Newsletter

  • P5 Frenemies

    Welcome to the July issue of Blue Smoke, the monthly newsletter shining a spotlight on senior appointments at the United Nations.  Blue Smoke has spent the last couple of months following the biennial General Assembly resolution which guides how senior appointments work, including the selection of the UN Secretary-General. The “Ad Hoc Working Group” has now produced…

  • The Colour Line

    Welcome to the June issue of Blue Smoke, the monthly newsletter shining a spotlight on senior appointments at the United Nations. Spend too long staring into the abyss that is the United Nations’ senior appointment system and one can easily become jaded: states and international civil servants trading political favours, basic information being inaccessible to…

  • A Matter of Time

    Welcome to the May issue of Blue Smoke, the monthly newsletter shining a spotlight on senior appointments at the United Nations. We talk a lot about timing at Blue Smoke because the calibre of leaders that the world needs aren’t sitting around waiting for the Secretary-General to call: they need time to juggle other commitments…

  • Unmerited: where does it stop?

    Welcome to the April issue of Blue Smoke, a new monthly newsletter shining a spotlight on senior appointments at the United Nations. We all know that top UN jobs are frequently awarded as political favours. It’s a sorry state of affairs which undermines the UN’s effectiveness and credibility. Our aim is to report on these…

  • “It’s confidential”!

    Welcome to the second (March) issue of Blue Smoke, a new monthly newsletter shining a spotlight on senior appointments at the United Nations. When will the most senior leadership positions at the UN next be contested? For what duration were the UN’s leaders appointed? Have any been secretly reappointed without the public being informed? How…

  • “It would be useless to suggest a non-American”

    Welcome to our first issue of Blue Smoke, a new monthly newsletter that will shine a spotlight on senior appointments at the United Nations. This edition’s title is a quote from a senior UN figure in response to a question about who is standing to be the next World Food Programme Executive Director. This is a…