Guyana’s contender for the top post at the United Nations told a candidacy hearing Thursday that the world shares a duty to ensure the global body remains a positive force, while also pushing for reforms to make it more nimble and efficient.
Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, who once worked as a schoolteacher and now serves as Guyana’s ambassador to the UN — a role she took on after previously serving as the country’s foreign minister — is one of six people vying to take over from Antonio Guterres when his term concludes at the end of this year.
Whoever succeeds Guterres will inherit a massive challenge: reviving an institution that has lost standing on the world stage and faces mounting calls to overhaul its large and expensive bureaucracy while eliminating redundancy across its numerous agencies.
“I believe in the United Nations. It is indispensable, it is incomparable, and it is a force for global good,” Rodrigues-Birkett said during her hearing.
“While it is important to highlight the U.N.’s shortcomings, we must also recognize the profound difference it has made in the lives of all of our peoples. Our collective responsibility is to make sure it continues to do so,” she added.
Echoing other candidates in the race, she called for ongoing reform efforts aimed at building “a more agile and effective organization.”
The remaining five candidates include Maria Fernanda Espinosa, who previously served as both foreign affairs minister and defense minister of Ecuador; Rebeca Grynspan, a former vice president of Costa Rica; Michelle Bachelet, the former president of Chile; Macky Sall, a former president of Senegal; and Rafael Grossi of Argentina, who currently heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.
A vote is expected later this year. Notably, no woman has ever held the position of UN secretary-general.
By tradition, the secretary-general is not drawn from any of the five permanent members of the Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States — though the support of those major powers remains essential in what is a complex and lengthy selection process.
