Secretariat

The Secretariat staff carry out the UN’s daily work.

Each department or office have a distinct area of action and responsibility. These coordinate with each other to ensure cohesion as they carry out the day to day work of the Organization in offices and duty stations around the world. 

The staff gather knowledge and background information on cases, initiate and implement resolutions adopted by the General Assembly, organise international conferences, administer UN Programmes, and much more.

More than 50,000 people work in the Secretariat. About 4,800 are headquartered in New York City, USA. A lot of the staff in the Secretariat have backgrounds as journalists, lawyers, economists, among other disciplines.

At the head of the United Nations Secretariat is the Secretary-General. The current Secretary-General, and the ninth occupant of the post, is Mr. António Guterres of Portugal, who took office on 1 January 2017.

The Secretary-General is the chief administrative officer of the Organization, appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council for a five-year, renewable term.

Read more about the Secretariat here.

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