New Departures in the Exercise of Inherent Powers by the un and Oas Secretaries-General

The successive holders of the office of Secretary-General of the United Nations have displayed considerable boldness and resourcefulness in the exercise of powers not spelled out in the Charter of the Organization but regarded as inherent in the office. Not surprisingly, the majority, but not all, of the numerous instances in which the United Nations Secretary-General has acted under those powers have concerned political questions. This activity, which usually aims either at forestalling potential disputes or at settling or assisting in the settlement of actual ones, has taken on a multiplicity of forms. In fact, just prior to the substantive involvement of the Secretary-General in the Central American situation, which was initiated in November 1986 and constituted yet another example of the use of his inherent powers, a point had been reached where very little room appeared to remain for significant innovation in the use of those powers to promote the settlement of disputes. Nevertheless, that situation gave the UN Secretary-General an opportunity to demonstrate that new ground could still be broken in this respect

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