A new Croatian female candidate for UN Secretary General?
A lobby group which seeks to nominate a women for the next Secretary General of the United Nations has put on its list of potential candidates Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. The list does not include minister of foreign and European affairs Vesna Pusić, who has been mentioned as a potential candidate for the office, reports Vecernji List on August 25, 2015.
Womansg.org states that the aim of the campaign and lobby groups is to have a woman as the next Secretary General of the UN, after Ban Ki-moon’s term concludes. They are offering assistance in choosing the best possible candidate, giving support to all qualified candidates and promoting transparency in the selection process. “Until now, eight men have served as the Secretary General. Not a single woman has ever been appointed, even though women make up half of the world’s population”, states the website of the lobby group.
The list of women who are considered ideal candidates for the Secretary General of the UN includes Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and, among others, former chief prosecutor of the Hague court Louise Arbour, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, German chancellor Angela Merkel and the presidents of Chile Michelle Bachelet and Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite.
The New York Times in a commentary published in the Sunday edition said that the election of the new UN Secretary General should be done in a more transparent way than in the past. The term of the current Secretary General Ban Ki-moon ends on 31 December 2016.
Minister of foreign and European affairs Vesna Pusić has so far been mentioned as a possible Croatian candidate for the position. She herself said she would run if the Security Council decided that the new Secretary General should come from Southeast Europe.
