On
UNSG Selection,
ACT Speaks
Out, Wallstrom
as Dark Horse,
Why Not
Debates?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, June
1 -- How
should the
next UN
Secretary
General be
selected, to
improve the
Organization?
On June 1,
after several
press
conference on
the topic and
a closed door
General
Assembly
session on
April 27, the
ACT group of
27 states
(Accountability,
Coherence and
Transparency)
submitted
their page and
a half set of
proposals to
the Presidents
of the
Security
Council and of
the General
Assembly.
Here is a
photo,
re-tweeted
from the Swiss
by the Free
UN Coalition
for Access.
Even before
these
proposals are
debated,
candidates are
edging for an
advantage;
dark horses
are
positioning
themselves for
it the post
slips away
from the
Eastern
European
Group. Inner
City Press has
mentioned
Helen Clark,
using the UN
Development Program
post to campaign
(staff who
cross her on
Twitter are reprimanded,
as Inner City
Press reported
here.)
Another
"dark horse"
candidate,
Inner City
Press is told,
is Swedish
foreign
minister and
former UN
official
Margot
Wallstrom.
We'd like to
hear from her
what she thnks
of the UN's
handling of
allegations of
sexual abuse
by French
"peacekeepers"
in the Central
African
Republic,
including the
role of
another
reputed dark
horse
candidate, or
at least
candidate to
head the UN in
Geneva, Susana
Malcorra. And
what did Ban know,
and when did
he know it?
The Free UN Coalition
for Access
agrees, there
should be
formal candidacies,
platforms --
and adds, why
not debates?
We'd like to
hear the Swiss
view on this -
from today
forward, from
a new mission
spokesperson,
Simone Eymann.
Her
predecessor
Adrian
Sollberger at
his farewell
reception on
June 1 joked
how being an
elections
officer is
like speed
dating. He is
remaining with
the the
Foreign
Department of
Switzerland
working in the
Cabinet of the
Secretary of
State, in
Berne.
So why NOT
some debates
among
candidates for
Secretary
General, when
they declare?
We'll have
more on this.
How
to pick the
next UNSG: 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.
To
counter-act
this Inner
City Press did
its reporting
about the
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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