Dag Hammarskjöld, a Short Life with a Lasting Legacy

Photo: United Nations

Fifty years ago, on 18 September 1961, Dag Hammarskjöld, the Secretary-General of the United Nations at that time, died in a plane accident while on a mission in the Congo.

It was in the midst of the Cold War, when the nuclear threat from the two superpowers showed the bipolarity of the international community, that Hammarskjöld died while actively carrying out his responsibilities as Secretary-General and keeping his principles as an international official. He left behind a great legacy for the Organization and its Member States.

Hammarskjöld was visionary, pragmatic and creative. He ensured that the work of the United Nations should be reflected and included in the resolutions of its principal bodies, and in particular in active on-site work.

As a result of the United Nations fight for decolonization during Hammarskjöld’s mandate as Secretary-General, the Organization grew from around 60 Member States under his leadership to 193 in 2011. An organization, which as he used to say, should exist not for the great powers, but rather to benefit the weakest countries in the international community, especially the new independent nations in Africa at that time.

He was often described as intelligent, upright and an idealist. Since the Suez operation, Hammarskjöld was the architect of peacekeeping operations as we know them today. We identify elements of what today we call establishment and strengthening of peace in the complex operation which he implemented in the Congo.

The blue helmets have become one of the most symbolic images of the United Nations. At present, more than 100,000 peacekeepers are displaced in 16 multidimensional operations, which in addition to helping maintain peach and security, also facilitate peace processes, protect civilians, help in the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of veterans; support the organization of electoral processes, protect and promote human rights and help to re-establish rule of law in places where others cannot and do not want to go.

Dag Hammarskjöld, who was Secretary-General from 1953 to 1961, hoped that the United Nations, an Organization founded less than two decades ago, would make progress in establishing new forms of partnership, new methods for deliberation and new conciliation procedures.

In the middle of the twenty-first century, more than 60 years since its birth, the Organization continues the everlasting search, not only for reforms to its structure and mandates, but also for its capacity to adapt to new challenges, which include but are not limited to intervention in internal conflicts due to ethnic or religious reasons which had been maintained under the bipolarity of the Cold War, globalization or the development and evolution of new information technologies.

To add to the commemorations of Dag Hammarskjöld’s short life but lasting legacy, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago will dedicate 24 October, United Nations Day, to celebrating his legacy.

Some of the activities on this day will include a conference by the specialist, Ove Bring, on Dag Hammarskjöld’s approach to the United Nations and international law, and the inauguration of a memorial monument together with the Embassy of Sweden in Chile and the Municipality of Vitacura.