News & Media

The Next U.N. Secretary General Should Be A Woman

This week, the good, the bad and the ugly of the global political elite met in New York for an institution that the U.S. loves to hate. The United Nations General Assembly, the most important gathering on the international diplomacy calendar, is even more significant than usual this year: World leaders are gearing up to choose the U.N.’s next secretary general, the planet’s next diplomat-in-chief.

When current Secretary General Ban Ki-moon steps down next year, he will be replaced by a candidate recommended to the General Assembly by the U.N.’s executive body, the Security Council. The result will not be made public until the fall of 2016, but politicking is already underway as Security Council members start assessing the potential candidates.

As the decision draws closer, the parameters of the race are becoming clearer. The next secretary general will likely be Eastern European. Eastern Europe is the only region never to have had its turn at the top job under the U.N.’s convention of regional “rotation.”

Read the full article at washingtonpost.com

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