By Temitope Ponle,
The United Nations (UN), the world’s foremost inter-governmental organisation established in October 1945 to promote international cooperation, is set to elect a new secretary-general.
The organisation sees its secretary-general as a symbol of its ideals and a spokesperson for the interests of the world’s peoples, particularly the poor and vulnerable.
For instance, Article 97 of the UN Charter describes its secretary-general as “chief administrative officer’’ of the organisation.
As important as the office is, observers note that the UN Charter has not put a limit to the number of times a secretary-general may serve, although none has held office for more than two terms.
For instance, the current UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the Republic of Korea, who is also the eighth, took office on Jan.1, 2007, serving two consecutive terms.
His first term expired on Dec. 31, 2011 and he was re-elected (unopposed) to a second term on June 21, 2011. His tenure is expected to end on Dec. 31, 2016.
Historians observe that in the last 70 years of its existence, the organisation has had eight secretary-generals –all men — although more women candidates have vied for the post in 2016 than in the past.
Nine governments have so far put forward candidates since the nomination process officially opened in December 2015 and out of the nine candidates, four of them are women.
The UN has over years advocated for women rights and gender parity; the 2014 Report of the Secretary-General stated that, as at December 2013, the representation of women in the professional and higher categories in the UN system stood at 41.8 per cent.
The growing sentiments for a female secretary-general have seen observers globally predict the possibility of a female taking up the role for the first time.
In his view, Ban said for more than nine years, he had put the philosophy of empowering women as agents of change into practice at the UN.
He said the organisation was now sweeping away the assumptions and bias of the past so that women could advance across new frontiers.
“I appointed the first-ever female Force Commander of UN troops and pushed women’s representation at the upper levels of our organisation to historic highs.
“Women are now leaders at the heart of peace and security — a realm that was once the exclusive province of men.
“When I arrived in the UN, there were no women leading our peace missions in the field.
“Now, nearly a quarter of all UN missions are headed by women – far from enough but still a vast improvement,’’ he said.
The UN scribe said he had signed nearly 150 letters of appointment to women in positions as assistant secretary-general or under-secretary-general.
“Some came from top government offices with international renown, others have moved on to leadership positions in their home countries.
“All helped me prove how often a woman is the best person for a job,” he said.
Ban said the UN had built a new framework that “holds the entire UN system accountable to ensure that this very real progress is lasting”.
He emphasised that that the UN had to get better at conflict prevention, rather than promoting peace efforts once wars were under way, an approach experts have argued a woman would be better at.
“If we have a woman secretary-general of the United Nations, there is a possibility of greater peace globally because women are always for peace.
“If we have had women heads of state especially in populous countries, there is nothing diplomatically speaking that women have not been able to do,” the Vice-Chancellor of Sokoto State University, Prof. Nuhu Yaqub said.
Also, Prof. Jide Owoeye of the Department of Politics and International Relations, Lead City University, Ibadan, said “women have a kind of appeal which can translate into good diplomacy.
“We have had quite a number of women who have held leadership roles in the United Nations.
“It will be good to have a woman as the chief administrative officer of the UN because they are more interested in issues like refugee problems, crises that affect women and children, among others.
“And these are the main issues that affect the UN.’’
In her opinion, Ms Jean Gough, UN Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, believes that “this should be the time for the women.
“We have lots of women that deserve the seat, we have an opportunity now and we look forward to having a woman in this seat.’’
The first UN Secretary-General Trygve Lie described the position as difficult, insisting that female candidates seeking it must meet up with the required criteria to run the office.
Also, President of the UN General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft, said finding the best person was key to the promotion of global sustainable development.
He described the ideal candidate as one who would have the “contact with the global public opinion and authority to call to the major and minor powers, particularly in the Security Council, to act timely.
“I hope that the world and the world power are ready to accept that the secretary-general at the outset should be a strong and independent personality.
“But many of us don’t see any reason why the best person should not be a woman for the first time. That’s an argument in itself.’’
Analysts note that the Security Council and General Assembly have taken steps to towards making the selection process in the election more transparent.
The General Assembly on April 12 opened three days of hearings and the nine candidates answered questions from ambassadors and advocacy groups in the first move of this year’s election process.
Lykketoft said “recent changes to the process itself, agreed to by all 193 members of the General Assembly, provide us with a genuine opportunity to make it more transparent, more robust, more inclusive and ultimately, more effective.’’
Although the selection of the candidate is subject to the decision of the Security Council, Lykketoft explained that the question-and-answer sessions could be “a potential game-changer’’ if many countries support one candidate.
He added that this would in turn put pressure on the Security Council not to choose someone else.
The process requires that each candidate will have 10 minutes to explain his or her vision for the organisation and then take questions from member states.
There also will be a chance for civil society groups to ask questions via short videos submitted earlier to the president of the General Assembly.
Among the women vying for the post include Director-General of UN Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation, Irina Bokova of Bulgaria and former foreign minister of Croatia, Vesna Pusic.
Others are former Foreign Minister of Moldova, Natalia Gherman and former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark.
Observers insist that one of these women may make history in becoming the first female secretary-general and the first to make a remarkable difference in promoting the aims of the organisation.(NANFeatures)