Rediff.com » News
Guterres takes over as UN Secy General today
December 12, 2016
Former Prime Minister of Portugal Antonio Guterres is set to be sworn in as the next United Nations Secretary-General today.
Guterres,
67, was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, and the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015.
He will become the world's top diplomat on 1 January 2017, and hold that post for the next five years.
He
was formally appointed by the General Assembly on October 13 in what
was the culmination of a historic process member states set in motion
late last year: the selection of a new United Nations Secretary-General,
traditionally decided behind closed-doors by a few powerful countries,
for the first time in history, involved public discussions with each
candidate campaigning for the Organization's ninth chief.
These
so-called 'informal briefings' between the candidates, UN member states
and civil society representatives kicked off on 12 April, when the first
three candidates presented their 'vision statements' and answered
questions on how they would promote sustainable development, improve
efforts to create peace, protect human rights, and deal with huge
humanitarian catastrophes should they be selected to lead the
Organization.
© 2024 Rediff.com