U.N. Members Push for Transparency in Selection of Next Chief
|
Version 0 of 1. UNITED NATIONS — Liechtenstein said the next secretary general of the United Nations must not be “chosen in a back room.” Malaysia, calling the selection process “secretive, opaque and outdated,” urged the Security Council to forward to the General Assembly more than one nominee to rubber-stamp. Costa Rica echoed the sentiments of several nations when it called for a woman to lead the world body. “We are convinced that among half of the world population there exists not one, but many women with the highest capacities and competencies to take such high responsibility,” the Costa Rican envoy, Juan Carlos Mendoza García, said. Frustrated with the dominance of the five permanent Security Council members over the selection of the United Nations’ chief, other countries pressured the world powers on Monday to open up the process as the United Nations marks its 70th anniversary. The United Nations Charter says little about how the secretary general is to be selected, except that the General Assembly must decide based on the recommendation of the Security Council. There are no campaign rules or lists of qualifications, and in practice, the choice is made largely in secret, in brass-knuckles negotiations among officials from the five powers, who enjoy the veto-wielding seats on the Council: Britain, France, China, the United States and Russia. Usually, the Council forwards one name to the broader membership of the General Assembly. It is the starkest example of how the five permanent members bargain over every important office within the system. Calls to expand the Council’s membership have been stuck for years. Russia made its displeasure known with the agitation for a female leader. Its envoy, Vitaly I. Churkin, said that gender should be “of secondary importance” and that the candidate should be chosen on the basis of merits alone. “Discrimination against men is also unacceptable,” he said. A coalition of nongovernmental organizations, backed by former United Nations diplomats, has called for a more formal application process, including transparent selection criteria, an official shortlist of contenders and a chance for all member nations to evaluate the candidates. The campaign, called 1for7billion, has been trying to draw public support through social media. The next secretary general is to be chosen in 2016, and jockeying for the job is just getting underway. Britain suggested the need for a clear deadline to declare candidates for the job and for the candidates to declare themselves with enough time to “present their priorities” to the membership of the United Nations. “All other attributes and qualifications being equal, it is high time for a woman to lead the United Nations,” the new British ambassador, Matthew Rycroft, said in his first speech to the General Assembly. “For that to happen we need as many credible women candidates as possible.” A network of women’s rights groups, called Equality Now, pointed out that while the post is rotated regionally, allowing different parts of the world to have a turn, no woman has had a chance. It posted a list of 14 potential female candidates, many of them veterans of the United Nations system. |