Meet UN Mission Leaders

Develop a shared vision for fulfilling the mandate of the Security Council and set the strategic direction to achieve goals and objectives, including inter alia overseeing the mission's transition/exit strategy, fostering integration of the mission's efforts among civilian, uniformed and support components;

Provide good offices on behalf of the Secretary-General through political support for efforts to resolve and prevent conflict, facilitating negotiations, fostering inclusive peace and building confidence among parties;

Provide leadership, political guidance and high-level operational direction, over all components of the mission, including the uniformed component, in the execution of mission activities;

Provide overall leadership to the comprehensive United Nations engagement in the host country, in accordance with the principle of integration, and promote a joint vision of the United Nations’ strategic objectives leveraging their combined comparative advantage and ensuring that all the United Nations components in the country pursue a coordinated and coherent approach; and in integrated missions, establish a framework that guides the activities of the mission and the United Nations Country team led by the RC;

Given their centrality to the objectives and responsibilities of the United Nations, the SRSG has the responsibility to uphold international human rights law in the implementation of the mission's mandate, as well as international humanitarian law when applicable, including on gender equality and women's human rights. They must ensure that international human rights and gender equality norms and standards are front and centre of the United Nations' collective efforts, including actions of its civilian, military, and police components within the country and meet UN human rights responsibilities as a core purpose set out in the UN Charter and as required by the Secretary-General's Call to Action for Human Rights, consulting with the High Commissioner for Human Rights on relevant policy and operational issues as needed;

Provide strategic direction to the Mission on all matters related to information integrity and addressing misinformation, disinformation, malinformation and hate speech (MDMH) in their area of responsibility; guide and create an enabling environment for timely and consistent actions across the monitoring, analysis, reporting, response and evaluation cycle; where appropriate, engage in advocacy, political outreach, and proactive and responsive communication initiative to address MDMH and designate the requisite resources for this purpose. In integrated missions, the SRSG/HoM is responsible for strategic and programmatic coherence across the UN system's engagement on information integrity;

Oversee the development and implementation of an effective strategy for the promotion and protection of human rights and accountability in support of the Mission's mandate;

Make managerial decisions over and ensure accountability for the use of financial, physical and human resources under the authority delegated by the Secretary-General to implement the Mission's mandate;

Report to the Secretary-General, senior United Nations officials, the Security Council, other United Nations bodies and Member States on developments in the host country and all matters relating to the implementation of the Mission’s mandate, including publicly on the human rights situation and on issues of women, peace and security;

As Designated Official (DO), fulfil responsibilities in relation to the safety and security of staff (and dependents, if appropriate) of the United Nations and the United Nations agencies, funds and programmes in the mission area;

Lead strategic communications, ensure a whole-of-mission approach is taken, that is fully integrated into all planning, decision-making and risk management. Conduct regular engagement with traditional media at a local level, and globally as required and participate in mission radio, digital and social media as well as in-person outreach events, based on a mission-wide communications strategy, which includes efforts to counter mis/disinformation and hate speech. Be the principal voice of the United Nations in the host country or region;

Take transformative actions to accelerate gender equality and Women, Peace and Security commitments, both in the workplace and in mandate delivery, including by championing targeted positive measures to ensure women’s meaningful participation on peace and political processes; and drive the attainment of gender parity across all levels and units in the mission, including by creating safe and enabling environments for all staff members;

Lead by example and build a mission culture of accountability, integrity and respect, in full alignment with the UN Values and Behaviours, which promotes the highest standards of conduct among all members of the mission. These include ensuring that the integrated misconduct risk management approach is in place that addresses preventive and response efforts, including to address all forms of sexual misconduct, as well as measures to hold individuals accountable for violations of the standards of conduct. Ensure also that that assistance is provided to victims of sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment in line with the Organization's rules, regulations and policies, ensuring accountability of managers and leaders;

Ensure that a mission-level Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Action Plan is developed which must include risk management mechanisms, safe and accessible complaint mechanisms, and victim's assistance services. The mission-level PSEA action plan should be fully aligned with and integrated into the country-level PSEA action plan that is implemented annually with all entities operating in the country.