A woman at the helm of the United Nations

The 81st UN General Assembly, which ends this Monday, will be remembered for the photograph of a smiling Delcy Rodríguez and Donald Trump—a perfect metaphor for the new era in Venezuela–U.S. relations—and for the decision by many delegates to leave the chamber when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was speaking. The New York gathering is concluding with the realization that the world faces a pressing choice between a future governed by “a return to the law of the jungle or a civilized international society,” as French President Emmanuel Macron summed up.

At a time when the multilateral order woven after World War II is under threat and authoritarian powers are flouting common law and norms, the replacement of the UN secretary-general takes on particular relevance. In his final General Assembly after 10 years in office, Guterres warned vividly of rising tensions: “The cracks of the world have become canyons.” For the United Nations, the crisis is existential.

There are plenty of reasons to criticize how the secretary-general is chosen. The process is opaque and removed from public scrutiny. It is also undemocratic: the five permanent members of the Security Council, with their veto power, have the final say. The person who is chosen will have to steer an organization beset by multiple crises in which it has shown itself ineffective, from Russia’s war in Ukraine to conflicts in Sudan, Iran and Gaza. The UN also faces a financial shortfall caused, among other factors, by the United States’ reluctance to pay its share of the bill.

Among the seven candidates, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan stands out strongly: she is someone with an established international track record and valuable experience as secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and, earlier, as head of the Ibero-American General Secretariat. Nothing is set in stone, however. The fact that the Trump administration has not taken a position fuels speculation that surprise candidates could emerge and force a reshuffle of the deck. The only certainty is that Guterres’s term ends on December 31.

The selection process should respect the traditional geographic rotation. After secretaries-general from Europe (Guterres), Asia (Ban Ki-moon) and Africa (Kofi Annan and Boutros Boutros-Ghali) in the past three decades, it is Latin America and the Caribbean’s turn. The last Latin American to hold the post was Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, from 1982 to 1991. Another requirement: the UN has never had a woman as secretary-general. Naming a woman would send a signal of commitment to equality at a moment when it is in marked retreat—whether among Afghan girls fighting for the basic right to go to school or among women in the United States who have seen the Supreme Court strip away nationwide legal protection for abortion.

The priority is to find the most qualified person for a post that combines the roles of conflict mediator, driver of peace operations, chief administrative officer and global leader. Gender, regional balance and experience leading international institutions should be decisive criteria. It is to be hoped that at the end of the race to choose a new secretary-general—“the most impossible job in the world,” as one occupant called it—it can be said that all these conditions were respected.

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