He is actually ‘tougher than his mild diplomatic manner may suggest.’ He ‘can do a great deal to foment that global opinion’ and does not hesitate doing so. According to a poll conducted by the WorldPublicOpinion.org, he is ‘the second most trusted global figure after Obama.’
He heads the United Nations, the international membership club that is mandated ‘to ensure that no regime, not even their close friends, has a guaranteed veto against international action.’ He comes armed with the concept of the R2P or the Responsibility to Protect doctrine. Nothing beats being tasked with a massive responsibility and given the necessary instruments that will make sure that the responsibility is carried out.
Ban Ki-moon strongly reminded the delegates to the UN General Assembly that the “Secretary-General has an obligation to tell the Security Council — and in this case the General Assembly as well — what it needs to know, not what it wants to hear.” ‘His report says that the Secretary General “must be the spokesperson for the vulnerable and the threatened when their Governments become their persecutors instead of their protectors or can no longer shield them from marauding armed groups.”
The R2P has crossed the path of some governments that have, indeed, become their own people’s persecutor instead of protector. To begin with the R2P has had many critics trying to weaken it in practice. But Ban is a staunch supporter of the R2P, and because he is in the ultimate position to see that it is implemented, the people-persecuting governments better be warned that the R2P will not be weakened under Ban’s helm.
Any government which thinks that what it does within its national borders is no else’s concern better learn the full extent of the R2P, and better get to know Ban Ki-moon. He isn’t known as the most dangerous Korean for nothing.
