Dear Editor,
As I have followed the race to succeed António Guterres as UN Secretary-General, I have become increasingly convinced that the most qualified candidate in the field is the one without the most obvious résumé: Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett of Guyana. And ironically, it is precisely her lack of a presidential background that makes her the right choice. I say this not only as an observer of the process, but as someone who had the privilege of meeting her personally in New York City years ago, when she was attending the UN General Assembly in her capacity as Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs — long before she became the household name in diplomatic circles that she is today.
What struck me then was not the title or the occasion. It was her manner. In a city and a setting that rewards performance and posturing, she was remarkably grounded — genuinely curious, unhurried in conversation, and clearly someone who had thought deeply about the purpose of multilateral institutions rather than simply how to navigate them for national advantage. That encounter stayed with me. And watching her career unfold since then has only deepened my conviction that she is built for exactly this moment.
My first reason for supporting her is this: the Secretary-General’s job is not a presidential one. As Rodrigues-Birkett herself described it, the role demands someone who is simultaneously “an administrator, peacemaker, mediator, broker, negotiator, convener and spokesperson.” Those skills are not acquired running a country — they are built over years of patient, unglamorous multilateral work. That is exactly the career she has had. From her time as Minister of Foreign Affairs, to directing the FAO’s Liaison Office in Geneva, to representing Guyana on the UN Security Council during the emotionally charged Gaza debates of 2024–2025, she has lived the work of the institution she now seeks to lead. I worry that candidates who have governed nations bring presidential instincts — commanding, nationally focused, politically calculating — that are ill-suited to a role requiring neutrality and consensus above all else.
My second concern is more pointed. Several of the head-of-state candidates carry political baggage that I believe the UN cannot afford. Macky Sall left the Senegalese presidency under fiscal controversy serious enough that his own successor’s government refused to endorse his candidacy. Michelle Bachelet’s nomination was withdrawn by Chile itself — her home country — before the selection process had properly begun. I find it telling that Rodrigues-Birkett, by contrast, was put forward with the full enthusiasm of her government and has drawn warm, unsolicited praise from fellow diplomats. Slovenia’s UN envoy, who served alongside her on the Security Council, said colleagues hold her in “high respect” — not as a political personality, but as a trusted partner and consensus builder.
The woman I met in New York all those years ago — thoughtful, principled, and genuinely committed to what the UN is supposed to be — is the same person now standing before the world and asking for the chance to lead it. In my view, the world should say yes.
Sincerely,
Keith Bernard
Discussion