Seven women Senators urged US President Barack Obama on Thursday to push for the election of the United Nations’ first female Secretary-General later in 2015.
Seven women Senators urged US President Barack Obama on Thursday to push for the election of the United Nations’ first female Secretary-General later in 2015.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, is due to step down at the end of 2016 after two five-year terms. A man has held the top job at the world organisation since its inception 70 years ago.
The 15-member Security Council — including veto powers China, Russia, the United States, Britain and France — will recommend a candidate for election by the 193-member General Assembly to succeed Mr Ban.
“We ask that the United States play a leading role in pressing for the strong consideration of qualified women,” the seven Democratic Senators wrote to Mr Obama.
Led by Barbara Boxer, a senior member of the Senate foreign relations committee, the letter was also signed by Senators Patty Murray, Mazie Hirono, Tammy Baldwin, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jeanne Shaheen and Barbara Mikulski.
In response to the Senators’ letter, a senior Obama administration official said: “While we would welcome the selection of a woman as the next Secretary-General, we will ultimately support the best candidate of either gender.”
Fifty-three countries, led by Colombia, are pushing for a female Secretary-General. Several civil society groups are also lobbying for a woman to lead the organisation.
Seven candidates have been put forward, including three women: Unesco director-general Irina Bokova, former Croatian foreign minister Vesna Pusic and Moldova’s former foreign minister Natalia Gherman.
The other four candidates are former Macedonian foreign minister Srgjan Kerim, Montenegro’s foreign minister Igor Luksic, former Slovenian President Danilo Turk and former United Nations high commissioner for refugees Antonio Guterres.
