Despite
Calls for
Competitive SG
Race, Ban
& Bokova
Trip Noted, 2d
Row
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 9
-- How should
the next UN
Secretary
General be
selected, to
improve the
Organization?
That was the question
on the
afternoon of
April 27 in
what was
called a "closed"
meeting in
the
Trusteeship
Council
Chamber. The
meeting being
labeled
closed, and
not on UN
webcast, is a
bad beginning,
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
believes. So
it reported on
it, see below.
But
what does
current
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon think?
On May 6 his
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq was
asked if Ban "has
ever weighed
in on this
debate."
Haq
replied, "He
has, in
fact.
And he's said
in several
public venues
that he thinks
it's high time
for a
Secretary-General
to be a
woman.
Of course,
it's not in
his hands to
determine who
that person
will be, and
he's not going
to offer any
opinions about
who should be
selected, but
certainly, the
time for a
female
Secretary-General
has come."
Three days
later in
Moscow, while
some noted
that Ban was
put in the
second row,
others noticed
in that
photograph
that Ban had
taken with him
not only his
(American)
chief
political
adviser Jeff
Feltman but
also Bulgarian
UNESCO chief
and next SG
wannabe Irina
Bokova - some
told Inner
City Press
this was Ban
presenting and
endorsing
Bokova. What
was the UNESCO
connection?
And why
hasn't
Bokova's
UNESCO spoken
on the destruction
of cultural
heritage in
Sana'a, Yemen
by the Saudi
led coalition's
airstrikes?
We'll have
more on this.
But amid calls
for an open,
transparent
and
competitive
process, how
Ban be
favoring or
helping any
candidate?
We'll have
more on this.
For his part,
Ban is head to
South Korea
(some noting
he may run for
office there.)
Inner City
Press asked on May 8
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
You had
country-specific
questions?
Inner City
Press: The
country is
South
Korea. I
just want to
know, since
it's out there
and it has
been reported
in The Korea
Times, can you
confirm that
the
Secretary-General
is going to
South Korea
for four days
in and around
22 May?
Spokesman:
I cannot
confirm at
this point,
but I
encourage you
to attend the
briefings next
week.
We'll be
there.
Inner City
Press did its
reporting
about the
UNGA meeting,
from India
urging that
there be more
than one - a
panel - of
candidates
proposed, to
Moldova
emphasizing
that the next
SG should come
from Eastern
Europe.
Canada
said regional
rotation
should inform
but not
determine the
selection. The
UK to its
credit
released a
copy of the
speech by new
Permanent
Representative
Matthew
Rycroft - but
how to square
its proposals
with David
Cameron
nominating
Andrew Lansley
to replace
Valerie Amos
as Emergency
Relief
Coordinator,
then insisting
that the UK
should have
the post, now
in the person
of Stephen
O'Brien.
Update:
With only a
few dozen
states
choosing to
speak, the
chair decided
to try to
finish them
all -- five
states in
twelve
minutes? -- to
end the debate
on April 27.
This too may
not be the
right spirit.
Update
II: And when
the rushed
session ended,
the next one
was announced
for May 12, on
the
"institutional
memory" of the
Office of the
President of
the General
Assembly.
Earlier in a
10 am press
conference by
the campaign
called "1 for
7 Billion:
Find the Best
UN Leader."
At the April
27 UN noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesperson
for Ban's
views on
needed
reforms.
Apparently
there are
none: it is up
to member
states, he
said, adding
that selecting
a women would
be good. What
about pay to
play?
Inner City
Press asked
the panel if,
as happened
last time,
increase trade
and aid
funding by a
candidates'
country should
at least be
disclosed, if
not
prohibited.
William Pace
of WFM replied
not only about
countries
spending
hundreds of
million of
Euros, but
also about the
heads of
international
agencies using
their posts to
campaign.
Since UNDP's
Helen Clark is
known to have
told
associates and
underlings she
would like to
be the next
SG, Inner City
Press asked
the panel for
comment. They
were
diplomatic,
including on
the UK, said
to be a
reformer on
the SG post,
having
insisted it
retain the
Emergency
Relief
Coordinator
positioon,
albeit in the
person of
Stephen
O'Brien and
not Cameron's
first nominee
(and National
Health Service
destroyer)
Andrew
Lansley.
Natalie
Samarasinghe
of UNA-UK said
the campaign
around (well,
against)
Lansley was a
positive step
forward; she
said that
social media
makes secret
processes less
possible. (But
see the
replacement at
Yemen envoy of
Jamal Benomar
by a
Mauritanian
official who
has not made
public
financial
disclosure).
Yvonne
Terlingen, now
Senior Policy
Adviser at
WFM,
also cited the
OCHA process
or campaign.
WFM's Pace
seemed to
conflate the
entire UN
press corps
with the UN
Correspondents
Association,
a group that
for example tried to
censor Press
coverage of
how Under
Secretary
General Herve
Ladsous got
the job, then
tried
to get
the Press
thrown out.
The new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
seeks to open
the UN and
these
processes -
watch this
site.
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