An American move to choose a new Secretary-General of the United Nations and possible anger in Latin America news

The United States said – yesterday, Friday, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, which falls on Friday – that it will consider selecting candidates from around the world to assume the position of the next UN Secretary-General, a step that may anger Latin American countries that believe that this is their role to provide a leader for this international organization.

The tenth Secretary-General of the United Nations will be elected to succeed Antonio Guterres – next year – for a five-year term beginning January 1, 2027.

Regions usually rotate in this position, and Latin America and the Caribbean are at the top of the list this time.

The race will officially begin when the Security Council (consisting of 15 members) and the President of the General Assembly (consisting of 193 members) send a joint letter by the end of this year requesting nominations, with the contenders to be nominated by one of the member states.

“We hope that during this process the leadership expertise in developing countries will be taken into account for this vital position, especially from the Latin American and Caribbean region,” Ricardo Moscoso, Panamanian Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations, said in the Security Council yesterday. Panama has a two-year term on the Council.

A tradition, not a rule

Ultimately, the five permanent members with veto power over the nominee must agree. These five countries are the United States, Russia, China, France, and Britain.

In this context, the Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, said that alternating the position of Secretary-General between regions is a tradition and not a rule, indicating that he does not mind a woman winning the position of Secretary-General, but on the basis of “merit, not gender.”

The United Nations is under increasing pressure to choose the first woman for the position of Secretary-General, as Danish UN Ambassador Christina Markus Lassen believes that the time has come for a woman to take over the leadership of the organization 80 years after its establishment.

Chile said it would nominate former President Michelle Bachelet, and Costa Rica also intends to nominate former Vice President Rebecca Greenspan, although the race has not officially begun yet.

Hot fixes

All of this comes amid many calls to reform this international organization, especially the Security Council, led by a call from Guterres, who believes that the UN Security Council needs “urgent reforms.”

Yesterday, he said in a speech via video technology that the legitimacy of the Security Council is “fragile” and that “reforms to its structure are necessary and long overdue in order to ensure global order and security.”

Guterres pointed out that some members of the Security Council acted several times in violation of the principles of the United Nations Charter, which led to undermining confidence in the international organization.

He stressed that the Security Council is not related to hegemony or empires, pointing out the need to address the imbalance within the Council, which requires expanding the number of its members.

Yesterday, Algeria, Somalia, Kuwait, Jordan and Tunisia also called for reform of the United Nations system to make it more just and effective in dealing with issues of international peace and security.

This came in statements by representatives of those countries on the occasion of United Nations Day and the 80th anniversary of the founding, corresponding to October 24 of each year.

Yesterday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his call to restructure the UN Security Council to be able to meet the just aspirations of all the peoples of the world.

Calls for reform of the United Nations usually address the demand to make it more just by reforming and expanding the UN Security Council to reflect the current balance of power and ensuring broader representation of developing and Arab countries.

The most prominent demands for reform relate to restricting the use of the veto, which often obstructs humanitarian decisions, specifically those decisions related to Israel, all of which the United States has been vetoing.