Amid reports of the United States planning to veto the nomination of Guyana’s candidate for the United Nations Secretary General’s position, President Irfaan Ali today made the case for Ambassador Rodrigues-Birkett as he addressed the United Nations General Assembly.

“The United Nations needs its next Secretary-General to work with all member States to restore confidence in the Organisation, mobilise its energies, and turn the language of multilateralism from aspiration into action. The reform of the United Nations, the restoration of trust and the need to manage transformation is, therefore, inseparable from the question of leadership. And the choice of its next Secretary-General will be, in no small measure, a choice about the kind of United Nations we wish to leave to the generations that follow”, he said.

In outlining his reasons for nominating Rodrigues-Birkett for the top UN job, the President told the General Assembly that Ambassador Rodrigues-Birkett has served Guyana and the developing world well.

He said we believe that her experience, her convictions and her record of service speak directly to the kind of leadership this moment demands. Her candidature, therefore, acquires special significance amid the profound challenges confronting the United Nations and the international order. We need leadership capable of restoring trust without compromising principle; of listening without surrendering conviction; of building bridges across the widening chasms between North and South, between large states and small, between the developed and developing worlds”.

The UN Security Council would make the recommendation for the next Secretary General to the General Assembly, which would support that recommendation.

Rodrigues-Birkett has polled consistently among the top candidates for the job. However, the New York Times reported this week that the United States plans to use its powers as a Permanent Member of the Security Council to block Guyana’s nominee, owing to her description of Israel’s actions in Gaza to be a genocide.

But President Ali this morning told the UN General Assembly that the need exists for a Secretary-General who will defend the UN Charter not only when it is politically convenient, but precisely when its principles are under pressure.\

He said Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett has drawn on every experience, and he believes she deserves support.

“The Permanent Representatives here in New York know her character, her integrity, her will, her commitment, her love for humanity, and her love for this world. And I know that this world will be a better place with Carolyn Rodrigues as the Secretary-General of the United Nations. In the humblest of ways, I call on the Security Council, and every member here to look beyond the small country that nominated her.CARICOM as a body has endorsed her. And let us rise to the challenge of giving this indigenous woman the chance of helping us craft together, the United Nations we want to see succeed. The responsibility for recommending the next Secretary-General rests, in the first instance, with the Security Council, and we therefore respectfully place before its members the candidature of Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett. Endorsed by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), we invite all to consider her candidacy on its merits and to judge whether her vision, experience, expertise and record can help restore confidence in the United Nations at this critical moment”, he said.

The UN is expected to make a final decision on the next Secretary General before the end of this year.

Related posts:

Guyana’s Rodrigues-Birkett tops latest UN Security Council straw poll on Secretary General candidates Guyana’s candidate comes in second in first informal UN Security Council straw poll for Secretary General CARICOM Leaders throw support behind Rodrigues-Birkett for UN Secretary General post Rodrigues-Birkett engages EU Diplomats at UN in bid for Secretary General post