Guyana has officially nominated its ambassador to the United Nations, Carolyn Rodrigues-Burkett, as a candidate for the position of UN secretary-general, President Irfaan Ali announced on Friday. The current secretary-general, Antonio Guterres of Portugal, is set to step down at the end of 2026 after serving two terms since 2017.
Candidate Profile
Rodrigues-Burkett, 52, has been Guyana's representative to the UN since 2020. She previously served as Guyana's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2008 to 2015, and later worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as Special Coordinator for Parliamentary Partnerships. In 2017, she became head of the FAO Liaison Office in Geneva, a role she held until 2020.
Vision for the UN
President Ali highlighted Rodrigues-Burkett's vision for the United Nations, which focuses on strengthening multilateralism, enhancing the organization's effectiveness and responsiveness, promoting inclusive global governance, and ensuring the UN remains capable of addressing contemporary challenges. He also noted her leadership during Guyana's two-year term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council from 2024 to 2025.
"Our successful election to the United Nations Security Council, and the successful completion of our 2024-2025 term on that body, have demonstrated to the world that Guyana can provide leadership at various levels of the global system," Ali said in a broadcast.
Historical Context
To date, no woman has held the post of UN secretary-general. Many countries are advocating for a female leader for the first time, and Latin America is claiming the position based on a tradition of geographical rotation, though this is not always strictly followed. Other candidates from the region include Michelle Bachelet, former president of Chile and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica, head of UNCTAD; and Maria Fernanda Espinosa, former foreign minister of Ecuador. Additional declared candidates are Rafael Grossi of Argentina, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and former Senegalese president Macky Sall.
Guyana, a small South American nation with a population of less than one million, is located on the Atlantic coast between Venezuela and Brazil.
