By Press TV Website Staff

The United Nations is preparing to pick its next Secretary-General, who will take office on January 1, 2027, for a new term leading the world body.

Founded in the aftermath of the Second World War, the United Nations officially came into existence on October 24, 1945, with the primary objective of preventing another global conflict.

Its founding Charter committed member states to maintaining international peace and security, promoting friendly relations among nations, protecting human rights, and encouraging international cooperation.

The organization was intended to provide a common framework through which countries, regardless of their size or military strength, could resolve disputes peacefully and act collectively in response to global crises.

Yet, more than eight decades later, the gap between these principles and political realities has become increasingly difficult to ignore, as its capacity to prevent wars and hold certain warmongering states accountable has repeatedly been challenged.

The ongoing US-Israeli genocide in Gaza, where more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023, has become one of the clearest tests of the United Nations’ lost credibility.

The immense civilian suffering, widespread destruction, Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian access, and repeated failures to secure a lasting resolution have raised serious questions about the international community’s ability to protect civilians and enforce the principles of international humanitarian law.

Similar concerns have emerged over the Israeli offensive against Lebanon and the unprovoked US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran, twice in less than a year, including attacks on its peaceful nuclear facilities.

The problem is not that the United Nations has failed to prevent every war. The crisis concerns the political structures that limit UN’s ability to act decisively, particularly when influential states oppose collective action.

Consequently, it risks losing public trust when its declarations, resolutions, and expressions of concern are not accompanied by effective measures to prevent further suffering or ensure accountability.

Against this background, the selection of the next Secretary-General to replace the current UN chief António Guterres is more than a routine leadership transition.

It is an opportunity to reconsider what kind of leadership the international community needs and whether the next officeholder can strengthen the organization’s independence, credibility, and capacity to respond to crises.

How is the Secretary-General actually chosen?

Under Article 97 of the UN Charter, the General Assembly appoints the Secretary-General upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

Member states nominate candidates, who present their qualifications and visions for the organization.

The candidates participate in public, interactive dialogues, while the Security Council considers their candidacies through private consultations and informal voting.

Crucially, because the recommendation is a substantive decision of the Security Council, the opposition of any one of its five permanent members — the US, the UK, France, China and Russia — can prevent a candidate from being recommended.

The winner needs at least nine votes from the 15-member UN Security Council without opposition from any of the five permanent members and they have until the end of December to choose the successor to Gutteres.

The General Assembly then makes the formal appointment.

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Lana Nusseibeh, Argentina’s International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi, Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan, Guyana’s former Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, former Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa, former UN Under-Secretary-General Olara Otunnu of Uganda, and Ecuadorian diplomat Ivonne A-Baki are campaigning for the role.

The following profiles examine selected candidates in the 2026 selection process, focusing on their professional backgrounds, diplomatic experience, political perspectives, and potential approaches to the challenges facing the United Nations.

Lana Nusseibeh

At 48, Lana Nusseibeh—the United Arab Emirate current Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and former ambassador to the UN from 2013 to 2024—has been nominated by Abu Dhabi to become the next UN Secretary-General.

Her record raises serious questions about double standards, accountability, and whether she could act independently of the government that nominated her.

Nusseibeh helped advance the Abraham Accords and the normalization of relations between the UAE and the occupying Israeli regime.

She has also defended maintaining ties with the Israeli regime amid its genocidal war on Gaza.

In March, she condemned Iran’s retaliatory operations against American bases in neighboring countries, yet offered no comparable condemnation of the US-Israeli unprovoked aggression against Iran.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, in a post on X on Sunday, said Nusseibeh’s bid to become the next UN Secretary-General aims to clear the diplomatic runway for Israel’s expansionist and aggressive ambitions under the so-called “Greater Israel” scheme.

He added that Nusseibeh’s candidacy for the UN’s top job also aims to whitewash Israel’s “systematic genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The Sudan war raises an even more troubling issue. Since the conflict erupted in April 2023, various reports have revealed that the UAE is supplying weapons, equipment and logistical support to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group which has carried out mass killings, ethnic atrocities and systematic sexual violence.

In September, a UN fact-finding mission reported reasonable grounds to believe that a transnational network involving UAE-linked individuals and entities had supplied the RSF with weapons, military equipment, training and logistical support. Abu Dhabi denies backing the militia.

The human cost is catastrophic: around 13 million people have fled their homes, and UN officials warned in August 2026 that the true death toll could be in the hundreds of thousands.

The RSF’s atrocities in Darfur, including mass killings around El Fasher, have intensified scrutiny of the external networks that helped sustain the war.

As a senior representative of the UAE’s foreign policy establishment, Nusseibeh’s candidacy cannot be separated from her government’s role in fueling Sudan’s brutal war.

If she succeeds, Nusseibeh would become the first woman to lead the United Nations since its establishment in 1945, the first of Palestinian descent, and the second Secretary-General from the Arabic-speaking world after Egypt’s Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

Rafael Grossi

At 65, Rafael Grossi, Argentina’s candidate for UN Secretary-General, has served as Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since 2019 and was re-elected in 2024.

He previously served as Argentina’s ambassador to Austria and as a senior diplomat dealing with nuclear non-proliferation.

He was formally nominated by Argentina to lead the United Nations from 2027.

His record as head of the IAEA, however, deserves serious scrutiny, particularly over Iran.

The Agency raised unsubstantiated safeguards concerns about Tehran’s nuclear activities and made outrageous accusations against Iran that ultimately paved the way for the US-Israeli war of aggression.

Tehran has repeatedly criticized the IAEA for presenting its findings in a politically motivated manner, stating that Grossi’s handling of Iran’s nuclear file helped manufacture the pretext for the US-Israeli war against Iran—a devastating military aggression that claimed thousands of civilian lives, including those of children.

The most troubling test of Grossi’s impartiality came when the United States bombed Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025 during the 12-day imposed war. Although the IAEA had responsibility for monitoring those facilities, Grossi refused to condemn the attacks.

The IAEA’s own mandate includes promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy and safeguarding nuclear materials—not merely demanding compliance from states under scrutiny while remaining conspicuously restrained when their facilities are attacked.

By amplifying allegations without establishing that Iran had decided to build a nuclear weapon, while failing to explicitly condemn the attacks on Iran’s safeguarded nuclear facilities, Grossi’s leadership has raised profound questions about the Agency’s impartiality and whether its authority was used to legitimize a war whose human cost has been catastrophic.

As a candidate for UN Secretary-General, Grossi must answer a fundamental question: can a man who led the international nuclear watchdog during the war on Iran credibly defend the UN Charter, international law and the peaceful use of nuclear technology without applying different standards to influential states and their so-called “adversaries”?

Rebeca Grynspan

At 70, Rebeca Grynspan, Costa Rica’s nominee for UN Secretary-General, is an economist and diplomat who has served as Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) since 2021.

She is the first woman to lead UNCTAD in its 60-year history.

Grynspan comes from a Jewish family whose parents fled Poland before the Second World War.

She previously served as Vice-President of Costa Rica and held senior positions within the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

In 2022, she also played a key role in negotiating the Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered between the UN, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine, which enabled the export of over 32 million tons of grain.

Under her leadership, UNCTAD published reports documenting the devastating economic consequences of Israel’s occupation, restrictions on Palestinian economic activity and the destruction of Gaza following the Israeli genocide.

These reports highlighted the enormous costs of occupation and the scale of reconstruction required.

She has also criticized the impact of Israel’s devastating war on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza, however, her criticism of Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza does not necessarily mean she opposes Israel as a whole, especially since she also condemned Hamas’s 7 October operation Al-Aqsa Storm.

Her career has largely focused on economic development, multilateral institutions and reforming the international economic system.

In April 2025, she urged the US to reconsider tariffs that harm developing countries. In a July 2025 interview with El País, she discussed their economic impact and stressed the importance of maintaining relations with the US.

These positions show criticism of certain US trade policies and support for developing countries, but they do not necessarily mean she opposes the entire system.

Her candidacy therefore raises an important question: will she challenge the unequal power structures within the international system and apply international law consistently to influential states, or will her approach remain focused on reforming the existing order without fundamentally confronting it?

Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett

Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, 53, is a Guyanese diplomat and former Foreign Minister of Guyana (2008–2015).

She served as Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and was nominated by her country for UN Secretary-General in June.

She has extensive experience in multilateral diplomacy, including Guyana’s 2024–2025 term on the UN Security Council.

Rodrigues-Birkett has taken a clear position against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and occupation policies.

Speaking for Guyana at the Security Council in November 2024, Rodrigues-Birkett criticized the Security Council’s failure to adopt a resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, after the United States vetoed the measure despite 14 members voting in favor.

She warned that the veto risked allowing the killing, starvation and maiming of Palestinian civilians to continue.

In December 2024, she invoked the International Court of Justice’s July 2024 advisory opinion, stressing Israel’s obligation to end new settlement activities and remove settlers from the occupied Palestinian territories.

In June 2025, she called for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, condemned settlement expansion and the killing of Palestinian civilians seeking aid, and warned that using starvation as a weapon of war violates international law.

Her outspoken record on Palestine and Gaza has become a point of controversy in the UN leadership race.

In an October interview with El País, she was asked whether criticism of Israel had cost her support.

Rodrigues-Birkett defended her record, noting that Guyana’s position reflected its commitment to international law and the UN Charter.

Reports from the latest rounds of informal Security Council polling showed her position weakening relative to some rivals. In the first four ballots, Grynspan and Rodrigues-Birkett held the top two positions. But in the last round she fell to third place, behind Grossi.

Her candidacy therefore highlights a central tension in the Secretary-General selection process: whether a candidate’s willingness to publicly challenge Israel’s actions in the name of international law can coexist with the political support required from powerful Security Council members.

María Fernanda Espinosa

María Fernanda Espinosa, 62, is an Ecuadorian diplomat, politician, and academic who served as Ecuador’s Foreign Minister and Minister of Defense.

She was President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly from 2018 to 2019 and served as Ecuador’s permanent representative to the UN and other organizations between 2014 and 2017.

She was nominated by Antigua and Barbuda for UN Secretary-General in May.

She is backed by a country other than her own. Ecuador, which is run by conservative president Daniel Noboa, who recently secured his second term, has not yet commented publicly on her nomination.

Her campaign emphasizes conflict prevention, multilateral cooperation, and reforming the United Nations.

In a May interview with EL PAÍS, she claimed that initiatives such as US President Donald Trump’s proposed Board of Peace for Gaza could potentially complement the UN rather than necessarily weaken it.

This comes as activists warn that Trump’s Board of Peace risks undermining the United Nations by creating a US-led parallel body that concentrates decision-making in Washington, bypasses established multilateral mechanisms, and weakens the UN’s central role in maintaining international peace and security.

The US-led Board of Peace has also faced growing criticism for excluding Palestinians from key decision-making bodies, concentrating power in Trump’s hands, and risking the replacement of Palestinian self-determination with externally imposed governance.

UN human rights experts have warned that its approach could resemble colonial administration rather than a rights-based path to peace.

Most importantly, the board has failed to secure a lasting end to the violence: Israeli attacks and the killing of Palestinian civilians have continued despite the announced ceasefire in October 2025, while restrictions on humanitarian aid and reconstruction remain major concerns.

Espinosa has also been reluctant to take a firm public position on reforming the Security Council veto, saying that the matter rests with member states.

Olara Otunnu

Olara Otunnu, 75, is a Ugandan diplomat and former Foreign Minister who served as UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict from 1997 to 2005.

He was nominated by Uganda for UN Secretary-General in July.

On Palestine and Gaza, Otunnu has identified the crisis as an immediate priority for the UN, describing the suffering of civilians as unacceptable.

During his UN Secretary-General candidate dialogue on August 19, he called for more than a temporary end to the fighting, saying that the international community must address the root causes of the war and pursue a lasting solution.

He also insisted that international law and human rights must be applied consistently, without selectivity.

However, his public statements in this dialogue focused on general principles and conflict resolution rather than explicitly holding Israel accountable for its genocidal acts in Gaza and elsewhere.

Whether he would publicly confront influential states when they violate international law remains an important question for his candidacy.

Ivonne A-Baki

Ivonne A-Baki, 75, is an Ecuadorian-Lebanese diplomat and politician who has served as Ecuador’s ambassador to the United States, France and Qatar, as well as a government minister.

She was nominated by Tonga for UN Secretary-General in August. Her campaign emphasizes conflict prevention, mediation, reducing UN bureaucracy and making the organization more effective.

Baki has endorsed the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between the Israeli regime and several Arab states.

During her UN candidate dialogue on August 20, Baki echoed Israel’s so-called “security concerns,” questioned whether the “two-state solution” remained achievable, and suggested that secure borders could offer an alternative.

Yet this approach leaves fundamental questions unanswered: where does it leave Palestinian self-determination, the end of Israel’s occupation, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state?

Baki has also openly acknowledged her friendship with Trump and claimed that her candidacy enjoys US support.

She has praised Trump’s role in international diplomacy and supported his proposed Board of Peace for Gaza, claiming that initiatives outside the UN can contribute to peace.

Her close personal ties to Trump, support for the Abraham Accords and endorsement of his Board of Peace raise legitimate questions about how independently she would act when US policy conflicts with the positions of other UN member states.

António Guterres leaves behind a UN whose authority has been severely eroded by its repeated failure to stop wars, protect civilians, or hold powerful states accountable.

Under his leadership, the organization has too often appeared to be a toothless body—issuing statements, expressing concern, and appealing for restraint while atrocities continue and international law is openly defied.

The Israeli genocidal war on Gaza and the unprovoked US-Israeli aggression against Iran have become some of the starkest symbols of this institutional paralysis.

The question now is whether a new Secretary-General can restore the UN’s credibility or will simply inherit—and perpetuate—the same failures.

Without the political courage to challenge influential states and confront double standards, a change of leadership may bring little more than a new face to an increasingly powerless institution.