Download as pdf - Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation

the ethics of dag hammarskjöld
The two centenaries were both celebrated in 2005, the end
of the union between Sweden and Norway with some hesitation
– at least from the Norwegian side – and the birth of
Dag Hammarskjöld with an unreserved, almost enthusiastic
renewal of the interest in the legacy of Dag Hammarskjöld,
as presented in his works. It might even be justified to speak
about a rediscovery of Dag Hammarskjöld, 48 years after his
tragic death during the Congo crisis in 1961. In his introduction
to the volume entitled Att föra världens talan. Tal och uttalanden
av Dag Hammarskjöld, Kaj Falkman tells of how surprised
he was when he discovered, while working on the preparation
of the edition of selected speeches and statements for the upcoming
centenary, that a substantial number of high-ranking
officers in the United Nations’ headquarters in New York
had a portrait of Dag Hammarskjöld in their office alongside
the portrait of the present Secretary-General. The reason
for this striking preference for the second in the succession
of top leaders of the organisation Falkman gives by referring
to two of these high-ranking officers – the first stating that
Dag Hammarskjöld was the person who defined the United
Nations and provided the organisation with an ethical dimension,
the second maintaining that Hammarskjöld made the
United Nations an instrument for citizens rather than states.
The meaning of the second statement, according to Falkman’s
interpretation, was to underline that during Dag Hammarskjöld’s
period the human rights of citizens were given priority
over the rights – or rather, the political claims – of member
states. ‘This spirit is still alive in the United Nations’, Falkman
quotes, ‘with a lasting impact’ (Falkman, 2004: 50).
How the complex relationship between human rights and
international law should be understood in an adequate way,
and adapted for operational purposes in situations of conflict,
remains – as we all know – an open question. The explanation
quoted might not be sufficient for us to understand
the unique position of Dag Hammarskjöld in the chain of
19