TORONTO: Indian-Origin Arora Akanksha, 34, Announces Her Candidacy To Be UN Chief

TORONTO: An Indian-origin employee at the
UN has announced her candidacy to be its next Secretary-General, the first
person to throw her hat in the ring against incumbent Antonio Guterres, who is
seeking a second five-year term beginning January 2022 as chief of the world
organisation.

Arora
Akanksha, 34, working as an audit coordinator for the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), said she will run for the post of the world’s top
diplomat and launched her campaign #AroraForSG this month.

“People
in my position aren’t supposed to stand up to the ones in charge. We are
supposed to wait our turn, hop on the hamster wheel, go to work, keep our heads
down and accept that the world is the way it is,” Ms Akanksha said in a
two-and-a-half minute campaign video posted online.

The video
shows Ms Akanksha walking inside the sprawling UN headquarters, as her
voiceover says that people who have come before her have “failed to hold
the UN accountable”.

“For
75 years, the UN has not fulfilled its promise to the world – refugees haven’t
been protected, humanitarian aid has been minimal, and technology and
innovation has been on the back-burner. We deserve a UN that leads
progress,” she says.

“That
is why I am running for the Secretary-General of the United Nations. I refuse
to be a by-stander. I will not accept this is the best the UN can do,” she
says in the video.

Last
month Antonio Guterres, 71, had confirmed that he will seek a second five-year
term as chief of the world organisation.

Mr
Guterres’s first term ends on December 31 this year and the term of the next
Secretary-General will begin on January 1, 2022.

Mr
Guterres assumed office on January 1, 2017 after a reformed selection process
that included a public informal dialogue session in the UN General Assembly.

Antonio
Guterres is the 9th Secretary-General of the United Nations and no woman has
held the position of the world’s top diplomat in the 75-year history of the
United Nations.

The
Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly, on the recommendation
of the Security Council, making the Secretary-General’s selection subject to
the veto of any of the five permanent members of the Council.

Stephane
Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, responding to a question at the
daily briefing on the UNDP staffer announcing her candidacy for
Secretary-General, said “Antonio Guterres is a candidate for the selection
process. It’s not for him to comment on other people who may want to come
forward.”

“This
is a process run by Member States. So, I’m not aware of any issues or problems
with that. I speak for the incumbent candidate, but we have no comment on
anyone else who may wish to put their hat in the proverbial ring,” Mr
Dujarric said.

The
spokesperson for UN General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir, Brenden Varma was
asked at the press briefing whether Arora Akanksha had written to the President
on her candidacy.

Mr Varma
said the President’s office had not received any formal communications on this
matter.

Mr Varma
had earlier said that so far the General Assembly President had not received
any notifications of candidacies for the position of Secretary-General from
Member States.

He added
that candidates have traditionally been presented by Member States.

In the
video, Ms Akanksha adds that it is time that the “UN stop serving
politicians and start serving people”.

“It
is time for a new United Nation – a UN that is a guardian for refugees, takes
humanitarian crises through to completion and gets technology and education in
the hands of all,” she says.

She also
says that these ideas are not impossible and don’t need another 75 years to
accomplish.

“It
takes someone being bold, being a first – first to speak up, first to take
action, first to make a difference and now first to challenge the UN. I’m no
longer waiting for the torch to be passed down, I’m taking it because I am part
of the generation of change where we don’t just talk about change, we cause
change,” she says.

She also
thanked supporters on Twitter and urged them to vote.

According
to her profile on her website UNOW.org, Arora Akanksha graduated from York
University, Toronto with a Bachelor of Administrative Studies.

She
received her Master in Public Administration from Columbia University.

Her
profile states that she was recruited at the UN to help with the financial
reforms of the organisation and her work included updating financial
regulations and rules of the UN and managing the internal and external audits
at UNDP.

A report
in news site PassBlue said India-born Arora Akanksha has an Overseas
Citizenship of India and a Canadian passport.

She
hasn’t asked either country for an official endorsement. She is nevertheless
hopeful that her candidacy could shake up the selection process, the report
said.