United Nations, Dec 17: The UN has kicked off the process to elect the next Secretary General, with the Security Council and General Assembly making an unprecedented call to member states to recommend woman candidates for the top job that has been held by a man for the past 70 years.
In a first, UN Security Council President for December US envoy Samantha Power and General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft circulated a letter on Tuesday to the 193 UN members soliciting names of candidates for the next UN chief and vowing to make the process more transparent and inclusive.
The two also made a special emphasis on the need for members states to nominate women candidates for the job of the world’s top diplomat.
No woman has served as Secretary General in the 70 years that the UN has been in existence.
“Convinced of the need to guarantee equal opportunities for women and men in gaining access to senior decision-making positions, Member States are encouraged to consider presenting women, as well as men, as candidates for the position of Secretary-General,” the letter said.
Lykketoft said that so far two candidates had been put forward for selection – Croatia’s woman Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic and former UN General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim of Macedonia.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has served two five-year terms and his tenure as UN Chief will end next year.
India has also called for changing and improving the existing process of selecting the world body’s chief, with its UN envoy Ambassador Asoke Mukerji saying that gender equality and regional rotation should be given due regard.
The next Secretary-General will assume the role in January 2017 and will serve a five year term, which can be renewed by Member States for an additional five years.
According to the UN Charter, the Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly following the recommendation of the Security Council.
Obama resolute; will not let Americans be terrorized
Washington, Dec 17: US President Barack Obama is resolute in his refusal to allow America and its citizens be terrorised, the White House has said, hours after all public schools in Los Angeles were closed following an emailed threat of violence.
“The President is resolute in his refusal to allow this country and our citizens to be terrorised. And there are several things the president is doing about that,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference.
All public schools in Los Angeles were closed due to an unspecified “electronic” threat which affected over 660,000 students in one of the largest School District in the US. New York schools have received similar threats but they decided not to close the schools. The FBI is investigating the matter.
Obama was briefed about the incident early in the morning, the White House said.
“We have engaged this aggressive campaign to counter ISIL, to degrade and ultimately destroy that organisation. That’s an indication and should be an indication to you and to the American public that the president and the federal government are cognisant of the risks and are taking appropriate steps to protect the American people,” Earnest said.
