The Women’s Major Group (WMG) submitted the call for a Feminist SG with 500+ signatures to Member States last week, highlighting qualifications we seek. They could be useful in formulating questions. As a reminder, they were:
We therefore call for a woman Secretary-General who has a demonstrable commitment to:
· Advancing a bold, comprehensive women’s human rights agenda in intergovernmental fora that recognises the indivisibility and universality of women’s human rights;
· Challenging inequality in all of its forms, including economic and social inequality between countries, between rich and poor, and between men and women.
· Taking urgent and equitable action to halt current environmental crises and their social impacts, including climate change;
· Ensuring that the UN implements the reforms necessary to protect its status as a genuinely democratic multilateral institution that acts in the interests of all people and all countries, and not just the most powerful;
· Taking action to ensure that feminist and civil society movements are not just observers in policymaking, but active and equal participants;
· Promoting women¹s leadership at all levels; and
· Ensuring that the integrity of the UN and its agencies is not undermined by the influence of private funding, including by the corporate sector.
By 20 March: Propose questions for United Nations Secretary-General candidates.
By 15 March: Apply for the civil society Committee for this process
The President of the United Nations General Assembly (PGA) is organizing informal dialogues between UN Member States and candidates for UN Secretary-General starting in April 2016. The General Assembly will, “without prejudice to the role of the principle organs as enshrined in Article 97 of the Charter, conduct informal dialogues or meetings with candidates for the position of Secretary-General, without any prejudice to any candidate who does not participate, thus contributing to the transparency and inclusivity of the process.”
The Office of the PGA has requested UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service NGLS to facilitate a process with civil society to provide questions that can be asked to candidates during these dialogues. The current list of official candidates can be found on the PGA’s website: http://www.un.org/pga/70/sg/
Learn more about this exciting opportunity, propose questions, and share: http://unngls.org/UNSGcandidates