Indian-Origin Employee At UN Declares Candidacy For Secretary-General Position

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

Updated on: 13 February 2021 1:46 pm

Indian-Origin Employee At UN Declares Candidacy For Secretary-General Position

An Indian-origin employee at the UN has declared her candidacy to become the next Secretary-General of the global organization, becoming the first person to announce her candidature against incumbent chief Antonio Guterres, who is seeking a second five-year term in the office beginning January 2022.?

Arora Akanksha who currently works as an audit coordinator for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said that she will run for the post of the world’s top diploma while launching 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,” the 34-year-old said in a two and half minute campaign video posted online.?

The video shows Akanksha walking inside the sprawling headquarters of the United Nations, 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 said.

“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 said in the video.

Last month Guterres, 71 had confirmed that he will seek a second five-year term as chief of the world organization. Guterres’s first term ends on December 31 this year and the term of the next Secretary-General will begin on January 1, 2022.?

?With inputs from PTI