Dag Hammarskjцld Exhibition

On March 24, 2005 the United Nations office in Ukraine, the Embassy of Sweden, the National University “Kyiv-Mohyla academy” organized a special exhibition devoted to the centenary of the birth of Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary General of the United Nations 1953-1961 and the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations.

Dag Hammarskjöld is one of the most admired and respected international leaders of the 20th century. As a memorial to Hammarskjöld, who died in 1961 while on official travel, the library at United Nations Headquarters, a gift of the Ford Foundation, was dedicated in his honor.

In 1956 Dag Hammarskjöld said: “I have no doubt that 40 year from now we shall be engaged in the same pursuits. How could we expect otherwise? World organization is still a new adventure in human history”

As Secretary-General, Mr. Hammarskjöld dealt with a range of situations to prevent war and serve the other aims of the Charter. In the Middle East these included: continuing diplomatic activity in support of the Armistice Agreements between Israel and the Arab States and to promote progress toward better and more peaceful conditions in the area; organization in 1956 of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) and its subsequent administration; clearance of the Suez Canal in 1957 and assistance in the peaceful solution of the Suez Canal dispute; organization and administration of the United Nations Observation Group in Lebanon (UNOGIL) and the establishment of an office of the special representative of the Secretary-General in Jordan in 1958. Later in 1960, when the President of the Republic of Congo asked for "urgent dispatch" of United Nations military assistance to the Congo, the Secretary-General addressed the Security Council at a night meeting on July 13 and asked the Council to act "with utmost speed" on the request. Pursuant to Security Council resolutions, the United Nations Force in Congo was established. In other fields of work, Mr. Hammarskjöld was responsible for the organization in 1955 and 1958 of the first and second United Nations International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in Geneva, and for planning a United Nations conference, held in 1962, on the application of science and technology for the benefit of less developed areas of the world.

After 60 years the UN faces the same challenges. The threats and challenges our world faces today range from terrorism and weapons of mass destruction through genocide and civil war to extreme poverty, endemic disease and climate change. All these threats are interlinked and the world needs a comprehensive strategy for dealing with them.

The Secretary-General Kofi Annan puts forward such a strategy under the heading “In Larger Freedom” – words taken from the UN Charter which encapsulate his own vision of development, security and human rights as equal and mutually interdependent parts of a seamless whole. “We will not enjoy security without development, we will not enjoy development without security, and we will not enjoy either without respect for human rights”, stated the report.

The report "In Larger Freedom" outlines actions to be taken to follow up on the commitments made in the Millennium Declaration. The September 2005 summit of world leaders at United Nations headquarters in New York is a unique opportunity for them to come together and agree on a collective response to the multiple threats and challenges faced by people everywhere in this new century. The Secretary-General’s report suggests bold but realistic decisions which world leaders could actually take when they meet. The report is not a wish-list, but a carefully crafted and achievable package of policy commitments and institutional reforms, in which all Member States should find proposals they will welcome.