Ban Ki-Moon is the current UN Secretary-General

Using the principal of geographical rotation, every ten or so years the post of UN Secretary-General is given to individuals from various continents.  Each candidate is usually kept for two terms of five years each. 

The individual selected has a duty and responsibility to represent the people of his/her continent by sharing the beliefs or values of the dominant civilization of any given continent.

There are over 10 Buddhist states in Asia including Sri Lanka, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Kampuchea, Vietnam, Bhutan, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Japan, and Mongolia.  Hindu and Buddhist civilizations have been prominent for over two millennia.  There are two large Hindu states in Asia—India and Nepal, in addition to many Sikhs and Jain’s dispersed throughout Asia.   In total these religions comprise of an astounding number of over 2.5 billion within Asia.  This number should be taken into account when the nominees for Secretary-General are selected and voted on.

There have been 8 Secretary –Generals since the beginning of the United States in 1946.  They are listed as follows:

1 ) Trygve Lie
Country : Norway
Religion: Lutheren Christian
Term of Office: 1946 – 1952

2 ) Dag Hammarskjold
Country: Sweden
Religion: Christian
Term of Office: 1953 – 1961

3 ) U Thant
Country : Myanmar ( formerly known as Burma )
Religion: Buddhist
Term of Office: 1961 – 1971

4 ) Kurt Waldheim
Country: Austria
Religion: Roman Catholic
Term of Office: 1972 – 1981

5 ) Javier de Perez de Cuellar
Country: Peru
Religion: Roman Catholic
Term of Office: 1982 – 1991

6 ) Boutros Boutros – Ghali
Country: Egypt
Religion: Coptic Christian
Term of Office: 1992 – 1996

7 ) Kofi Annan
Country: Ghana
Religion: Christian
Term of Office: 1997 — 2006

8 ) Ban Ki – moon
Country: South Korea
Religion: Christian (non – denominational)
Term of Office: 2006 – 2011

 If broken down into continental representation, the post of UN Secretary-General has been held by three Europeans, two Asians, one Latin American and two from the African continent.  All of these posts were chosen on the basis of geographical rotation.

Even though the posts were drawn from different continents on the basis of geographical rotation, It is interesting and important to note that seven of the eight holders of the post were Christian (or nominal Christians).  The only non-Christian post was taken by U Thant from Myanmar. To this day not a single Hindu, Sikh, or Jain has been has been chosen for this post.

The world’s number 1 bureaucratic position job will lose its prestige and influence on the world if posts are continuously given to members of primarily one religion. 

Members of Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jain communities should also have equal representation within the posts chosen.  It is now Asia’s turn to be chosen because if a nation from the Asian continent fails to get chosen in the next round in 2011, it will take another 30 years under the principal of continental rotation for Asia to push for a representative from Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jain faith.

Buddhists are constantly attacked in Majority-Muslim Bangladesh

Bangladesh (CHAKRA) – A human rights group in New Delhi has requested UN intervention after attacks on tribal areas in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh.

“The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) has demanded the intervention of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Navi Pillay to ask Bangladesh government to take appropriate action on the burning of tribal buddhist villages and indiscriminate killing of tribals by the Bangladesh Army and illegal settlers Saturday,” said director of ACHR, Suhas Chakma in a statement.

Newspapers and media companies in Bangladesh have reported that the authorities have deployed soldiers after over 100 houses in a village in addition to a Christian church, a Buddhist temple as well as an office of a UN-funded project were set on fire in Bagaichhari sub-district under CHT Saturday.

A sacred statue was damaged and another stolen at the Banani Buddhist Monastery.

Six people, all Buddhists have been killed by a mob of Muslim settlers in the midst of the attacks according to people in the Chakma tribes.

“This attack on the indigenous buddhist  people shows that the government of Bangladesh has failed to change its policy of indiscriminate killings of tribals and minorities win order to occupy their lands and implant more illegal plains settlers instead of implementing the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord of 1997,” stated a Chakma tribal representative.

There has been many reported attacks on Buddhist and Hindu tribal villages since 1997 in Bangladesh which have now become occupied by Muslim villagers and landowners. Many critics call this a genocide against non-muslim minorities by neighboring muslim villages and the Islamic Bangladeshi government.