Former UN Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres withdrew from the race for the UN Secretary General post on Monday. On Tuesday, the Costa Rican diplomat announced her exit from the race on Twitter. As UNFCCC head she had successfully led the negotiation efforts for the Paris climate agreement in December 2015. She posted a letter on Twitter dated September 12, addressing the UN General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft, explaining the reason for her withdrawal as loyalty to the United Nations and facilitating the advance of the selection process.
However, agency reports quoted the Costa Rican diplomat as withdrawing her candidacy for the top post at the UN after failing to find sufficient support at the Security Council. “All of the (straw) polls at the Security Council indicate that my candidacy does not have much future,” Ms. Figueres was quoted as saying at a press conference alongside Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez in San José, Costa Rica. Mr. Gonzalez was quoted as saying: “You have to read the signs.”
Need for leadership
Emphasising the need for leadership for maintaining world peace, Ms. Figueres said in her letter that, as it had been shown in the climate change negotiations, the UN will not be able to advance synergistically for the common good without leadership. She expressed hope that the UN would elect a woman to replace Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who has been in office since 2007 and whose second term ends December 31, 2016.
Another woman candidate in the race for the post, former Croatian foreign minister Vesna Pusić, had withdrawn her candidacy for UN Secretary General in August. The world body has never had a female leader in its 70 years. Other prominent women candidates who continue to compete for the top UN job include former New Zealand prime minister and head of the UNDP Helen Clarke, Argentina’s foreign minister Susana Malcorra, and Bulgaria’s Irina Bokova, who is also the director general of UNESCO.
(with inputs from AFP)
