By Dr Palitha Kohona
Former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN and Former Ambassador to China
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 8 January 2025 (IDN) — With Antonio Guterres’s term of office tapering off, there is increasing chatter in the corridors of the United Nations in New York regarding his potential successor. The interest in the top post at the UN has been heightened due to the issues that have emerged.
The importance of respecting the principal of regional rotation, the need to maintain equitable distribution between the North and the South, the importance of more transparency in an organization that devotes much energy to promote democracy in the world, and importantly, the need to have a woman occupy the top job at the UN at least now after 79 years of its existence, are prominent among the conversation starters in the UN cocktail circuit, all against the background chatter to reform the Organisation.
Many would support the idea of a woman occupying the top position at the UN but, there is always a but, finding the right woman for the job is casually posed as a challenge.
The call for a woman to be elected to head the UN after almost 79 Years of the Organisation being led by, mostly aging men, has increased to a crescendo. Guterres, expressing solidarity with the cause has said that “Gender equality is a core guiding principle of the United Nations. It is a fundamental human right and a necessary foundation for a peaceful, fair and sustainable world. However, the Organization cannot claim to be a champion of women’s empowerment when half of the world continues to be excluded from its highest office”
The Charter itself says little on the appointment process. Article 97 stipulates that the General Assembly will appoint a Secretary-General on the recommendation of the Security Council. As with much else with the UN, the practice with regard to the appointment of the SG also has evolved in response to contemporary pressures. Resolutions 11/1 of 1946 and 54/246 of 1997 are important in this regard.
The Security Council (SC) plays a preeminent role in the selection of an acceptable candidate. In reality, the role played by the veto wielding Permanent 5 (P5) is critical. In the first instance, the SC will seek consensus prior to recommending a candidate to the GA, although 9 votes in favour of a candidate in the Council would suffice to progress the matter. If consensus is not feasible, the Council will vote on the candidates available.
P5 Endorsement
The practice of conducting straw polls among the members of the SC has become popular in recent times. To the disconcert of many members of the world body, the recommendation is adopted at a private meeting in accordance with Rule 48 of the Provisional Rules of Procedure. The Permanent Five of the SC exercises inordinate power over the selection process. Today the endorsement of the P5 is essential and consequently the veto acquires a particular significance in the SC recommendation.
In 1996, the significance of P5 endorsement was clearly highlighted. As the Council began its consideration of potential candidates, Boutros Boutros Ghali, the incumbent SG, received 14 endorsements in a straw poll, except that of the US. The US endorsement was crucial. Boutros Boutros Ghali had offended the US with comments on the situation in the Middle East.
A week later, a dark horse from the Secretariat staff, the amiable Kofi Annan from Ghana, received the necessary endorsement of the SC with the backing of the P5. Similarly, in1981, Kurt Waldheim’s effort to secure a third term, was vetoed by the Chinese.
It is now almost mandatory for aspirants to the post of SG to undertake visits to the capitals of the P5 to seek their blessings and not say or do anything that would cause them alarm. In South Asia, people are familiar with the somewhat similar practice of making offerings to deities in order to obtain divine blessings.
This was not always the case. When, in 1951, Trygve Lie was vetoed by the Soviet Union, as he sought his second term, the US had him appointed through a clear majority of votes in the GA. Given the difficulties that Trygve Lie faced subsequently, especially in dealing with a hostile Soviet Union, it would be unlikely that such an approach would be adopted today.
Although there are suggestions that the SC should recommend more than one candidate, for the sake of transparency and to facilitate democratic choice, the GA decided in Res 11 of 1946 that it would be desirable for the Council to proffer only one candidate. Whether this sentiment continues to be shared by many in the GA today, with its much diverse membership, is unclear. While a divisive vote in the GA is always possible, in recent times, the GA has tended to rubber stamp the recommendations of the SC.
Western Europe and Others (WEOG) have had four SGs (Gladwyn Jebb, UK, Acting, held the post briefly at the initial stages of the UN, Trygve Lie, Dag Hammarskjöld, Kurt Waldheim and Antonio Guterres), Latin America and the Caribbean, one (Pérez de Cuéllar), Africa two (Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan) and Asia two (U Thant and Ban Ki-moon).
The manner in which the WEOGs has managed to secure this prestigious and potentially powerful position raises many questions and it seems hardly equitable that a political entity with only 744 million people (9.2% of the global population), should have been able to dominate the UN consisting of 193 countries.
Eastern Europe has been singularly unsuccessful although many have asked whether since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc and the steady drifting of former Eastern European countries to the EU and NATO, there is a justification for treating the former Eastern European region as a separate entity. The Russian Federation remains a member of the P5. Reflecting the global political economic situation which is no longer applicable, three of the five Permanent seats in the Security Council are held by the WEOGs.
Candidates from the P5s are not considered for the post.
While early aspirants to the post did not campaign under various spurious pretexts, the need to approach a wide range of countries to seek their blessings is increasingly acknowledged today. Visits to capitals could generate a groundswell of sympathy for a candidate which could influence members of the SC. Ban Ki Moon used his position as the Republic of Korea’s representative in the SC to visit as many capitals as possible in advancing his candidature the first-time round.
The present writer is aware that he was advised by friends to seek the endorsement of the regional groups as he was mulling presenting his candidature for the second time, in particular his own regional group, the Asia Pacific Group. This was against the background of some whispered reservations about his performance in the first term, especially among certain WEOG countries (read, as a lack of overt commitment to Western sponsored causes).
Concerns about his perceived lack of fluency in the working languages of the Organisation and the absence of firmness in dealing with difficult issues were also being whispered in the cavernous corridors of the UN. The Asia Pacific Group endorsed him unequivocally, setting in motion a tide of endorsements from the other regional groups culminating in the endorsement by the WEOGs. He announced his candidature immediately following his meeting with the Asia Pacific Group.
Today, the names of many eminent women have been mentioned, as being qualified to do the job as UN SG, some with significant UN experience. Among the front runners, this time round, with two years to go, is Michelle Bachelet, a two-time president of Chile and an ex-UN high commissioner for human rights. She also led the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.
Multilingual Bachelet’s domestic and international background is impressive but could raise eyebrows in Washington. In the mix of front runners is also Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados. Mia Mottley, became Barbados’ eighth and first female Prime Minister in 2018. Also among the front runners is María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, a former president of the UN General Assembly and a one-time Foreign Minister and the Minister of National Defense of Ecuador.
Ms. Espinosa Garcés was also the Chair of the Group of 77 and China until January 2018. Also in contention is Amina Mohammed, UN deputy secretary-general and onetime environment minister for Nigeria where she steered the country’s efforts on climate action and efforts to protect the natural environment.
The names of Jacinda Ardern, a 43-year-old former prime minister of New Zealand, Dunja Mijatovic, a 59-year-old human rights expert from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Simona-Mirela Miculescu, a former Romanian Permanent Representative to the UN, currently serving as Permanent Delegate of Romania to UNESCO, and President of the 42nd session of the General Conference of UNESCO have also been suggested.
Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Susana Malcorra, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Argentina are other contenders. She presided over the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference held in Buenos Aires and was Chef de Cabinet of the Executive Office of the United Nations, under UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Not far from centre stage is Amina Chawahir Mohamed Jibril, a former Kenyan cabinet secretary. She previously served as chairwoman of the International Organization for Migration and the World Trade Organization‘s General Council, and was the Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. [IDN-InDepthNews]
Collage of Midtown Manhattan Skyline CC BY-SA 4.0, UN Secretary-General Guterres and his predecessors. Sources: UN.
