AFP, UNITED NATIONS, New York
The appointment of a woman to the UN’s top job is a question of “historical justice,” said former Ecuadoran minister of foreign affairs and minister of national defense Maria Fernanda Espinosa, who is seeking to become the organization’s first female leader.Espinosa professed her “deep love” for the UN as she unveiled her bid to lead it from next year, joining a field of four other contenders: former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi of Argentina, former Costa Rican second vice president Rebeca Grynspan and former Senegalese president Macky Sall.“Some people say it is time” that a woman leads the UN “and I believe it is a matter of historical justice, but I think it’s also an issue of merit, of having the full pool of merit, experience and knowledge to the service of the United Nations,” she told reporters.
Former Ecuadoran minister of foreign affairs and defense Maria Fernanda Espinosa, a candidate for the position of UN secretary-general, speaks during an interview outside UN headquarters in New York City on Wednesday.
“We cannot leave half of the world’s population outside of that possibility, and I think if we really want change and transformation why not to have, after 80 years, a woman and the right woman leading the organization,” she added, pointing to a need for “different perspectives” in dangerous times.While the world is experiencing a surge of wars in the post-World War II era, the current selection process is playing out against a backdrop of political and financial crisis, and accusations of inaction.
