India calls for more transparency in UN chief's appointment

With the term of current UN chief Ban Ki-moon set to end in 2016, India has called for a "more inclusive and transparent" procedure for appointment of the Secretary-General and said the Security Council should recommend more than one candidate to the General Assembly.
Participating in the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalisation of the General Assembly here yesterday, India's Deputy Permanent Representative Ambassador Bhagwant Bishnoi said the the 193-member General Assembly, "being the voice of the international community", must be given a greater say in the selection of the Secretary-General.
The norm that the 15-member Security Council recommend only one candidate was in the "context of a different world order that existed at that time in which it was desirable that the two cold-war adversaries agree on a common candidate before putting forward his name."

"The situation today is entirely different and this provision needs to be changed. The Security Council should recommend more than one candidate to the Assembly for appointment of the new Secretary-General," he said.
Bishnoi noted that the continued "circumscribing" of the Assembly's role and responsibilities in the process of selection and appointment of the Secretary General needs to change.
"Efforts to put in place a more inclusive and transparent procedure for the appointment of the Secretary-General...Need to be undertaken without further delay," he said adding that a working group should consider formulating guidelines and criteria for the selection of the candidatures.

Ban took office in January 2007 and was unanimously re-elected for a second term by the General Assembly in June 2011.
He would continue to serve as the UN Chief till December 2016. Momentum is building up to make the selection process of the UN Chief more transparent amid growing frustration over the dominance of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council in the appointing the Secretary General.