United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has announced his intention to seek a second five-year term, which would commence on January 1, 2022. Incumbent secretary generals usually are the odds-on favorites to win re-election, unless they have badly offended one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Secretary General Guterres has been very careful not to step on any important toes.
Secretary General Guterres made climate change his number one priority during the entirety of his first term
Secretary General Guterres made climate change his number one priority during the entirety of his first term. Even after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Guterres tried to link the devastating health and economic crisis wrought by the pandemic to the UN’s radically transformative agenda to combat climate change. “We must act decisively to protect our planet from both the coronavirus and the existential threat of climate disruption,” Guterres said last April. “The current crisis is an unprecedented wake-up call.”
The secretary general also used his global platform to speak out on refugees, social and economic development, nuclear disarmament, human rights, curbing hate speech on social media, major conflict hotspots, inequality, and a variety of other global issues. However, Guterres’ speeches and statements have more often than not been filled with generalities rather than offering detailed, concrete recommendations for solutions. Guterres was very adroit in dodging any diplomatic land mines.
Human Rights Watch has issued a statement criticizing Secretary General Guterres for his “unwillingness to publicly criticize rights-abusing governments by name and a preference for closed-door diplomacy.” The Chinese Communist regime is the most notable example of Guterres’ failure to publicly name and shame. “Human Rights Watch and other organizations have called on Guterres to publicly urge the Chinese government to release over a million Turkic Muslims arbitrarily detained in so-called education camps and appoint an envoy to monitor rights abuses in China -- he has not done so,” according to Human Rights Watch’s statement.
Selected behind closed doors by the Security Council and then officially appointed by the General Assembly
Secretary General Guterres has also failed to take a strong, principled stand against the Iranian regime’s ongoing threat to international peace and security. He keeps defending the disastrous nuclear deal with Iran known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Iran is violating. He has failed to speak out against the broad pattern of the Iranian regime’s malevolent behavior. Freed from the restraints imposed by the UN arms embargo, which the Security Council refused to extend, the Iranian regime is building up its aggressive military capabilities and continuing to flow weapons to its terrorist proxies. Earlier this month, as reported by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), the regime showed off its drone arsenal, including bomber drones, suicide drones and drones used for electronic warfare. “No place in the world,” an Iranian military officer boasted, as quoted by MEMRI, “is beyond our reach…every inch of the enemy's territory is within Iran's range of fire.”
The process for selecting the next secretary general begins with the issuance of an official joint letter by the presidents of the General Assembly and Security Council. It is too early to say whether any candidates other than Guterres will step forward to compete for the secretary general position. The president of the General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir of Turkey, promised a transparent process during which he said that he expects “the candidates, or candidate, to come to the General Assembly with a vision statement and have an interactive dialogue meeting, before going to the Security Council to get elected or selected.” Despite a similar commitment to transparency when Guterres competed for the job the first time against 12 other candidates, he was selected behind closed doors by the Security Council and then officially appointed by the General Assembly.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has announced his intention to seek a second five-year term, which would commence on January 1, 2022. Incumbent secretary generals usually are the odds-on favorites to win re-election, unless they have badly offended one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Secretary General Guterres has been very careful not to step on any important toes.
