JAKARTA - The new Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) must address the mistakes made by his predecessor's team, Antonio Guterres, starting with the dominance of Western officials within the UN Secretariat, said the Director of the International Organizations Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kirill Logvinov.
"The problem is that biased approaches prevent UN officials from playing an effective role as mediators in the resolution of current acute crises," Logvinov told TASS, as quoted (22/6).
"By risking their own credibility, they cannot hope to gain the trust of the warring parties, which is the main resource of a negotiator. We hope that the current situation can be improved, at least to some extent, after the election of the new secretary-general," he said.
It is known that the current term of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will end on December 31, 2026, with his successor taking office on January 1, 2027.
According to Logvinov's diplomat, to achieve this goal, the next highest-ranking official of the organization "must correct the mistakes made by Antonio Guterres' team."
"First of all, the dominance of the Western minority flooding the Secretariat must be dealt with," Logvinov said.
"Please judge for yourself: the first deputy secretary-general holds a British passport, the deputy secretary-general for policy and humanitarian affairs is a British citizen, the deputy secretary-general for political affairs is a citizen of the United States, and the deputy secretary-general for peacekeeping is a citizen of France," he said.
"This kind of imbalance will inevitably affect who the Secretariat listens to and who is ignored. The existence of this problem is recognized not only by us, but also by many other countries of the global majority," said Logvinov.
The UN Secretary-General election series began late last year. Quoted from The National, four candidates presented their visions in a public hearing.
The four candidates for Secretary-General are two male candidates, Argentine diplomat and head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog (IAEA) Rafael Grossi and former Senegalese president Macky Sall.
As well as female candidates, former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and Costa Rican economist and former Vice President Rebeca Grynspan.
The U.N. has never had a woman serve as secretary-general in its nearly 80-year history, a shortcoming the General Assembly acknowledged in a resolution last September calling for stronger consideration of female secretary-general candidates.
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