Secretary General’s only bias should be to UN Charter, intl law – Amb Rodrigues-Birkett reaffirms

…as all 7 candidates for top UN post vetoed by major powers

As the race for the next Secretary General (SG) of the United Nations (UN) picks up pace, Guyana’s Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett has reiterated that the next head of the global body should only be biased to the UN Charter and international law.

Rodrigues-Birkett, Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the UN, is among seven candidates currently vying for the top UN office, which will become available when current SG Antonio Guterres concludes his second four-year term on December 31, 2026.
Guyana’s candidate has been among the top candidates, running close behind Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan, who has maintained first place in several recent straw polls conducted by the Security Council, except one in August, which Rodrigues-Birkett had topped.
To get the job, a candidate needs nine votes from the 15 members in the Security Council and must avoid a veto from any of the Permanent Five (P5) Council members – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Based on international reports, however, the latest informal poll held on Friday showed that all of the seven candidates received a “discourage” vote, effectively amounting to a veto, from a P5 member.
According to a Reuters article, Ambassador Rodrigues-Birkett received eight “encourage” votes, six “discourage’ votes and one “no opinion” vote, with two of the five opposing votes coming from the permanent members.
This performance comes second to Grynspan, who got nine votes in favour, five against and one “no opinion,” with two opposing votes from the major powers.
Compared to the previous five straw polls, Friday’s process was different. It was the first time that the secret poll used red ballots to distinguish the votes of the five permanent members. While all candidates were vetoed, it was reported that the three leading candidates – Grynspan, Rodrigues-Birkett, and UN Nuclear Chief Rafael Grossi of Argentina – all received two red discourage votes.

While it is unclear how the five major powers voted, international reports indicate that the US opposes all seven candidates.
In fact, it was previously reported that the US has decided to block the Guyanese candidate over her description of the situation in Palestine as a “genocide”.
Prior to Friday’s poll, Ambassador Rodrigues-Birkett participated in a Stimson Center dialogue during which she was asked about Washington’s reservation about her candidacy.
“I have no information from the United States that they have any position on my candidacy,” she declared in her response.
Rodrigues-Birkett went on to defend her and, by extension, Guyana’s position on Palestine during its two-year presidency of the Security Council from 2024 to 2025.
“Let me say that Guyana was elected with 191 of 192 votes to get onto the Security Council. And we took that as an overwhelming mandate of the General Assembly. And throughout our campaign, we told everyone that we are not going to bend when atrocities are committed and when international law is violated. We would speak up on this wherever it is committed and whenever it is committed. And that’s what Guyana did on the Security Council. That voice was my voice representing my country,” the Guyanese UN diplomat contended.
It was against this backdrop that the Guyanese candidate further noted that, “What I’ve heard in this campaign for Secretary General is that you would need a Secretary General that is only biased to the UN Charter and international law. That is not in contradiction to what I did for my country in the Security Council. And so that is what would be my answer.”
Meanwhile, these latest straw poll results come on the heels of President Dr Irfaan Ali just last month, who strongly appealed to the Security Council Permanent Members to consider Guyana’s candidate.
“In the humblest of ways, I call on the P5, the Security Council, and every member here to look beyond the small country that nominated [Ambassador Rodrigues-Birkett]. CARICOM, as a body, has endorsed her. And let us rise to the challenge of giving this indigenous woman the chance of helping us craft together the United Nations we want to see succeed,” the Guyanese leader said during his address to the 81st UN General Assembly on September 24.