Western Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America have all had a Secretary-General from their region.
Foreign AffairsInternational
- Omissions
- The claim does not mention that the Eastern European Group (EEG), one of the five UN regional groups, has never held the post of Secretary-General — a notable gap in the informal regional rotation convention.
- The UN regional group for Western Europe is formally the 'Western European and Others Group' (WEOG), which also includes Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other non-European states, though all Secretaries-General from this group have come from Western Europe proper.
- Sources
- PrimaryUnited Nations — Former Secretaries-GeneralFormer Secretaries-General list includes: Ban Ki-moon (Republic of Korea), Kofi Annan (Ghana), Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt), Javier Perez de Cuellar (Peru), Kurt Waldheim (Austria), confirming representation from Asia (South Korea), Africa (Ghana, Egypt), Latin America (Peru), and Western Europe (Austria).
- SecondaryStudy.comList of nine UN Secretaries-General includes: Trygve Lie of Norway (1946–1952), Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden (1953–1961), U Thant of Myanmar (1961–1971), confirming Western Europe (Norway, Sweden) and Asia (Myanmar) representation.
- SecondaryTestbookUN Secretary General List confirms Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (Peru, 1982–1991) and Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt, 1992–1996), confirming Latin American and African representation.