"I am a professional optimist", Ralph Bunche told journalists at Nicosia International Airport at the conclusion of a visit in July 1966 to view the peacekeeping operations in Cyprus. "If I were not a professional optimist through 21 years in the United Nations service, mainly in conflict areas-Palestine, Congo, here and in Kashmir-I would be crazy. You have to be optimistic in this work or get out of it. … That is, optimistic in the sense of assuming that there is no problem-Cyprus or any other-which cannot be solved, and that, therefore, you have to keep at it persistently and you have to have confidence that it can be solved."1
Widely hailed, among his many accomplishments, as a great international civil servant, American and citizen of the world, Ralph Johnson Bunche's life story is one full of inspiration to all engaged in the pursuit of peace. As a year-long programme marking the 100th anniversary of his birth in Detroit, Michigan, commences to celebrate and build upon the legacy of this diplomat, scholar and internationalist, it is timely for the current staff of the United Nations, to which Ralph Bunche devoted 25 years of his spectacular career, to reflect on one of its most famous and optimistic alumni. A visible reminder of the esteem with which he is regarded within the United Nations and the City of New York is the Ralph Bunche Park located directly opposite the UN Secretariat building.
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Ralph Bunche Park Photo/Mark Garten
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Many staff members who pass this memorial, however, may not be fully aware of his great legacy. Such reflection is timely because in 2003, when the Iraq crisis was added to the long list of conflicts with which the Organization has been confronted, the relevance and even future of the United Nations has again been scrutinized and questioned. However, within the Organization, while the mood may have at times been troubled, the outlook was much more positive. An unofficial survey of staff members revealed that 80 per cent did not see the crisis as making the United Nations irrelevant. Further, 60 per cent felt optimistic about its future, while only 20 per cent were decidedly pessimistic. So, during these challenging times, what can be gleaned from Ralph Bunche's views on the meaning of being an international civil servant and how can they be pursued by his current successors?
Staff members today are required to make the same commitment to the United Nations, as did all their predecessors. As international civil servants, they are charged with translating into reality the ideals of the United Nations and its specialized agencies, as enshrined in the UN Charter. UN staff are part of the international civil service which "relies on the great traditions of public administration that have grown up in Member States: competence, integrity, impartiality, independence and discretion. But over and above this, international civil servants have a special calling: to serve the ideals of peace, of respect for fundamental rights, of economic and social progress, and of international cooperation."2
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one in a set of three stamps the United Nations Postal Administration issued on 7 August 2003 to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Ralph Bunche.
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It was this same calling to which Ralph Bunche responded in 1946 when he was asked by then UN Secretary-General Trygve Lie to leave his senior role at the United States State Department and join the fledgling United Nations, in charge of the Department of Trusteeship, where he would oversee post-war decolonization efforts.
Having grown up in material poverty but in a family rich in spirit, imbued with a sense of pride in his identity as a black American, but very conscious of racial inequalities, Ralph Bunche had all the makings of a fine international civil servant. His great achievements in political science, as a student at the University of California in Los Angeles and Harvard University, then as a professor at Howard University, and his study tour of colonial policy in Africa, would equip him very well for his future career. He lived through the international turmoil of the Second World War and the domestic struggles of the nascent civil rights movement. His own ideals as a young man would come to be reflected by those adopted by the United Nations and subsequently by sweeping social reforms in the United States. He arrived on the international scene at a time that would prove most fortuitous for the emerging Organization, playing significant roles in its founding and the drafting of its Charter.
Ralph Bunche clearly had the highest regard for the United Nations, choosing to spend the majority of his working life as part of the UN Secretariat from 1946 until ill health forced his retirement in 1971. His views on the meaning of being an international civil servant can be identified not only from his speeches and writings but, perhaps even more cogently, from his actions.
As one of his biographers observed: "The civil rights movement was terribly important to black Americans and to Ralph, but he had placed his faith in and was determined to devote himself to the United Nations and the emerging dependent territories, seeking a higher goal than the equality of one people."3 Having made this choice, he reaffirmed it when he declined to move back to Washington, DC to join the Truman Administration, preferring instead to remain at the United Nations. He saw in the Organization an opportunity to serve not just his fellow black Americans but the peoples of the world, and not merely the Government of his country but an international organization, of which the United States was a founding member, where his working allegiance would lie with the United Nations itself.
Today, as when Ralph Bunche served, UN Secretariat staff members are required to be guided by the principles of the Organization. "The values that are enshrined in the United Nations organizations must also be those that guide international civil servants in all their actions: fundamental human rights, social justice, the dignity and worth of the human person and respect for the equal rights of men and women and of nations great and small." As international civil servants, they are also required to "share the vision of their organizations".
It is "loyalty to this vision that ensures the integrity and international outlook of international civil servants; it guarantees that they will place the interests of their organization above their own…"2 What is the vision of the United Nations, and how does it compare to the time when Ralph Bunche served? In 1946, the United Nations that Bunche joined was, of course, initially focused on dealing with the aftermath of the Second World War. The broad vision at that time was probably commensurate with its newly crafted goals. These are found in the Preamble to the UN Charter, which affirms the Organization's determination "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, … to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, … to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom".
It was peacekeeping, the development of which he greatly influenced, that would primarily occupy Ralph Bunche during his tenure at the United Nations. This vision for the world remains the same, although it now needs to be interpreted and applied by the United Nations in a world still beset by war-numerous regional and civil conflicts-as well as, arguably, a greater array of social and environmental problems, and the challenges posed by globalization. More specific objectives consistent with these broad goals have recently been described by the Secretary-General in the Millennium Declaration adopted by the General Assembly in 2000, in which Member States expressed assuredness as to the relevance of the United Nations and confidence in its ability to achieve a wide-ranging and challenging agenda. Members reaffirmed their commitment to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, whose "relevance and capacity to inspire have increased, as nations and peoples have become increasingly interconnected and interdependent". They declared that they "solemnly reaffirm, on this historic occasion, that the United Nations is the indispensable common house of the entire human family, through which we will seek to realize our universal aspirations for peace, cooperation and development. We therefore pledge our unstinting support for these common objectives and our determination to achieve them."4
With different opportunities beckoning, Ralph Bunche expressly chose the path of an international civil servant. His belief that the scourge of war could best be banished by cooperation and understanding among nations marked him as an internationalist. He was not simply someone who took an active interest in world affairs, but he steadfastly believed in the power of international cooperation to work for the betterment of mankind. Such cooperation continues to be required from UN staff members, as stressed in the 2002 Standards of Conduct for the International Civil Service, although now in the context of a much broader range of activities than the United Nations originally pursued.
In accepting the 50th Nobel Peace Prize in December 1950, Ralph Bunche recognized the need for such cooperation: "There are many who figuratively stand beside me today and who are also honoured here. I am but one of many cogs in the United Nations, the greatest peace organization ever dedicated to the salvation of mankind's future on earth. It is, indeed, itself an honour to be enabled to practise the arts of peace under the aegis of the United Nations."
United Nations staff members today can still identify with these sentiments. At times they may often feel like one of the many "cogs" in the machinery of the United Nations. But as Ralph Bunche recognized, each cog working cooperatively is essential to transfer energy throughout the Organization. He had also devoted himself to civil work, that "of or relating to ordinary citizens". He was called to a career of interna-tional public service-rather than one in the domestic government or private sectors-a career where he could seek to "serve the ideals of peace, of respect for fundamental rights, of economic and social progress, and of international cooperation". These objectives were fundamentally consistent with his upbringing, education and philosophy on life. His stage progressively widened; however, his values appear to have remained constant. And in the other meaning of "civil", namely "courteous and polite", he is routinely described by his biographers and colleagues as dignified, even-tempered, soft-spoken, considerate, modest, sincere and trustful. Such qualities continue to be highly regarded within the UN Secretariat and beyond.
His dedication to the ideals and work of the United Nations epitomizes the concept of service. Ralph Bunche's preparedness to work long hours and with enormous energy is legendary. He put the interests of the United Nations far above his own, accepting whatever new challenge was given to him. As today's staff members will readily understand, there must have been times when he questioned his ability to take on some of these assignments, simply in terms of workload if not his possession of the requisite knowledge and skills. And yet, each time, he rose to the occasion and seized each new assignment with confidence and optimism.
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UN photo
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So Ralph Bunche, the professional optimist, was true to his own beliefs. He persisted through numerous challenges with the confidence that "there is no problem which cannot be solved". A prime example was when he was plunged into the role of Acting Mediator in Palestine following the assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte in 1948 and achieved a series of armistice agreements following gruelling negotiations. That same outlook is abundantly evident among his successors. Their individual approaches to the role of being an international civil servant today no doubt differ widely. But the same spirit of optimism and dedication is widespread. Each person privileged to work for the United Nations will have his or her own way of realizing the broad vision of the Organization and its specific goals.
Vision can be exercised from any vantage point within the institution, from any cog in the wheel. The fact that each staff member's perspective, in part, will necessarily be individual and tailored to his or her specific tasks can still contribute to and enhance the breadth of United Nations vision as a whole. Such vision may be exercised in a peacekeeping mission redolent of those Ralph Bunche spent most of his career serving. Or it may be honed and realized in many different disciplines and locations, some dangerous and some not. All who share such vision are united in the same common calling that Ralph Bunche first heard more than fifty years ago.
Among the far-reaching legacies of Ralph Bunche are that, like other early members of the UN Secretariat, he helped by his actions to establish a standard of conduct for all international civil servants, shared in the vision of the United Nations, and had an unshakable belief in its relevance to mankind. In that way, he lives on at the United Nations. For, as reiterated by Member States in the Millennium Declaration, such an approach to the role of an international civil servant, especially one privileged to work for the United Nations, remains as valid and meaningful today as in Dr. Bunche's era.
Notes
1 "Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey", Sir Brian Urquhart, W.W. Norton & Co., (1998), p.373.
2 Standards of Conduct for the International Civil Service, International Civil Service Commission, January 2002.
3 "Ralph Bunche: A Most Reluctant Hero", Jim Haskins, Hawthorn Books, (1974), p.98.
4 Millennium Declaration, 2000.
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