Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, has come in second in the first informal UN Security Council poll in the race for the next Secretary General of the United Nations.

Rodrigues-Birkett placed second in the poll behind former Costa Rican Vice President, Rebeca Grynspan. Under Article 97 of the UN Charter, the Secretary-General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

According to the UN Security Council, the straw polls are informal ballots used to determine the viability of Secretary-General candidates. The candidates in the running for the UN top job have been meeting with the Security Council and facing questions.

Guyana’s candidate has been coming out among the top candidates in the race and has been sharing her vision for the United Nations.

In a recent interview with the UN-produced broadcast programme, “UN Insider”, Ambassador Rodrigues-Birkett said the UN has served the test of time and she believes there is no alternative to the United Nations and the work that it has been doing.

“I truly believe that there is no alternative to the UN and we can make it better, even in the situation that the world is in right now, I think that all roads always lead back to the UN”, she said.

Ambassador Rodrigues-Birkett said the United Nations and its work stretches far beyond security and peace. She said many might have a limited idea of the importance of the UN and the role it plays globally. According to Rodrigues-Birkett, she has seen the United Nations in action, and if she becomes the next Secretary General, she will work towards reforming the UN and making it better on several levels.

“My first order of business would be to ensure I have a team that is balanced with the requisite skills that are needed right now for the UN, and secondly we are experiencing a proliferation of conflicts and I think that we need to look at how we can move the needle on some of those. There is also a large humanitarian challenge, the humanitarian needs are ballooning and the resources are shrinking and we are talking about the lives of our people”, she explained.

The race for the UN Secretary General’s job is ongoing with the candidates engaging representatives of various countries seeking their support. Ambassador Rodrigues-Birkett was the last to enter the seven-person race, but has been pushing her campaign forward with the hopes of whipping up enough support to inch closer to the top UN job.

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