By Deutsche Welle
Former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, candidate for general secretary of the UN, He said Tuesday that he hopes the world is finally “ready” to have a woman in that position.
Since the creation of the United Nations at the end of the Second World War, all nine secretaries general have been men, and for several years many countries have been advocating for the appointment of a woman.
In 2016, despite there being several candidates, Antonio Guterres won the race.
“If I am polite, I would say that the world was not prepared. Is it now? I hope so,” Bacheleta told reporters at the end of a three-hour hearing before the member states.
“It would be a very positive sign (…) It would give hope to many people,” he added.
In a world traversed by wars, the candidate asked the member states to rebuild trust in the UN, in particular by continuing the reform of the organization, mired in the midst of a political and financial crisis.
Also He advocated for a general secretary “very present on the ground”, who is “the voice of the upright” and capable of “saying what he thinks” even under pressure from powerful states.
Although distrust of the UN is often illustrated by the paralysis of the Security Council on numerous hot-button issues, Bachelet acknowledged that she had no formula to change things.
“I don’t have a magic potion that I can give to the Member States, and in particular to the 5Ps (the five permanent members of the Security Council), so that they drink it and everyone becomes friends,” he declared to the press.
Two other Latin Americans and an African aspire to obtain what the president of the Standard Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, has described as “one of the hardest jobs in the world.”
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