Women, regional rotation key for next UN chief selection: India

With UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's tenure ending next year, India has called for changing and improving the existing process of selecting the world body's chief, saying women and regional rotation should be given due consideration.

India's Permanent Representative to the UN Asoke Mukerji said here that there is often pressure of the Security Council on the Secretary General as well as on the General Assembly. "As we have said on earlier occasions, the Secretary-General is often unfortunately perceived to be a Secretary vis-a-vis the Security Council and a General vis-a-vis the General Assembly. This perception has to be reversed," he said at a meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalisation of the General Assembly yesterday.

Putting on the table India's suggestions, Mukerji proposed the identification of objective criteria for the candidatures, including commitment to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, extensive leadership, "administrative and diplomatic experience with due regard being given to regional rotation and gender equality." He said appointment of a new chief next year gives the international community a "historic opportunity to change and improve the existing selection process" of the Secretary-General in the interests of the United Nations system in general and the Assembly's prerogatives in particular.

"All of us are aware that the United Nations faces its most serious tests both in terms of credibility and performance as we embark on implementing an ambitious post-2015 Development Agenda to eradicate poverty from the face of the earth," Mukerji said.

There is an "obvious" need for implementing the clear provisions of the UN Charter as far as the selection procedure of the Secretary General is concerned, he said. "We strongly feel that a Secretary General, elected on the basis of these provisions, who reflects the aspirations of the broader United Nations membership, will be crucial in providing effective and responsive leadership in meeting these challenges," Mukerji added.

He stressed that this objective can be achieved by clarifying the process for electing the Secretary-General without making this a "divisive issue" between the Security Council and the General Assembly. Ban took office in January 2007 and was unanimously re-elected for a second term by the General Assembly in June 2011. He would continue to serve as the UN chief till December 2016.