Leadership and coordination

The Charter assigns to the Economic and Social Council, under the authority of the General Assembly, the central promotional and coordinating role in respect of the whole United Nations System: that is to say, the United Nations per se, including UNCTAD, UNIDO, UNDP, UNEP, UNICEF and other United Nations organs, as well as the specialized agencies and IAEA. The coordinating responsibilities of certain programmes and organs in specific sectors are subject to the proviso, usually explicit, that they do not impair those of the Council. How these responsibilities are differentiated was discussed in Chapter 3; here it will suffice to emphasize that only the Council and the General Assembly can provide policy coordination for the entire United Nations System–a frame-work within which each part of the system can play its due role; and, secondly, that the Council is in the best position to assist the General Assembly in developing the political will and taking the political decisions necessary to launch and maintain broad international actions in which the cooperation of many parts of the system is required.

If, over a long period, the Council has not fully asserted its authority under the Charter, the question arises whether it is capable of doing so. One could be defeatist in the light of the record and the increasingly difficult circumstances in which its authority has now to be exercised. But such defeatism would surely be unjustified as well as disastrous.