NEW YORK:
Six candidates seeking to become the next United Nations (UN) Secretary-General have gathered to share their visions for the future of the world body over the next decade.
Speaking at a townhall in the UN General Assembly Hall, all candidates vowed to enact reforms and restore trust in the organisation, at a time when the UN’s influence and moral authority are being widely questioned over its ability to resolve global conflicts.
“We need more than ever a Security Council (UNSC) that functions in line with provisions of the UN Charter,” said former Senegal President Macky Sall.
“The lack of trust between the members today, particularly the permanent members, means that crises go on without solutions being found.”
Paralysed by the use of vetoes, the UNSC has struggled to respond effectively to humanitarian crises in countries such as South Sudan and Haiti, as well as conflicts across the Middle East.
The organisation is also facing mounting financial pressure, with declining contributions from member states.
Former UN General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa of Ecuador also warned that global institutions continued to be led by previous generations, despite more than half of the world's population now being under the age of 30.
“We need to regain trust in international law, the UN charter, the role of the UN, the importance of cooperation and collaborative action,” she said. “Our responsibility is to make the UN relevant again.”
Antonio Guterres is set to conclude his second term as UN Secretary-General on December 31, after serving 10 years in the role.
Latin America has been widely seen as the frontrunner to produce the next UN chief, with Sall being the only candidate from outside the region.
Other candidates in the running are former Chilean President and former UN Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet; International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi of Argentina; UN Trade Chief Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica; as well as Guyana's former Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett.
All six individuals were nominated by their respective governments or supporting UN member states, after a joint letter was sent to all 193 UN member states inviting nominations for the position.
Bachelet said it was high time for the UN to appoint its first female Secretary-General in the organisation's 80-year history.
“We need a UN that’s agile, efficient, effective, transparent, accountable and takes seriously all the different challenges that young people and women have, because peace is essential,” she said, adding that growing polarisation and fragmentation were among the world's greatest threats.
Rodrigues-Birkett echoed similar concerns, warning that multilateralism itself was under threat.
“The generation of World War II is not with us anymore and history has a way of repeating itself if we don’t learn from it and if we don’t communicate about this,” she said.
The townhall takes place a week before 15 members of the Security Council are due to hold their first closed-door, anonymous vote on their preferred candidates.
That initial poll will be followed by an unspecified number of subsequent rounds, until one candidate secures the required nine votes without a veto from any of the five permanent members, which are the United States, United Kingdom, China, France and Russia.
The successful candidate will then be recommended to the General Assembly for formal appointment, before officially taking office on January 1, 2027.
