The current prime minister of the Caribbean nation of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley, who assumed office on May 25, 2018 and was sworn in as the country’s first female prime minister, has become a leading figure on the global stage. She was selected as one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2022, one of the BBC’s 100 Women of the Year, and was named a U.N. Champion of the Earth.
Recently, there have been several news stories, both here in U.S. media and in the international press, reporting that her name is topping the list of potential candidates to become the future secretary-general of the United Nations. Were that to happen, she would become the first woman to hold that position.
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Stephanie Fillion reported the story for CNN:
Asked last week if she will run to become the United Nations’ next Secretary General, Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados gave a thumbs up, smiled, and walked away. Unofficially, however, UN insiders say she’s a likely front-runner. The 2026 selection process is still far off, but talk of who is best-positioned to win the powerful job has already begun.
Historically, there has been a geographical rotation for the position, so it seems likely the next UN leader will be from the Latin America and the Caribbean region – and many advocates say it is time for a female candidate, after 78 years of only male leaders. …
Many diplomats in New York City and outside said they believe in Mottley’s potential to represent issues affecting the developing world as leader of the UN – but also in her capacity to bring her unique style of leadership to the role.
”I don’t think I recall another leader in recent history other than Obama that had the attention of the international community like she does,” a UN diplomat said.
The Jamaica Gleaner posted an editorial on the subject on Oct. 2:
Nearly a year ago, this newspaper proposed Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley to succeed António Guterres as secretary general of the United Nations (UN) when the former Portuguese prime minister completes his second term at the end of 2026. Which, coincidentally, fits snugly with the end of Ms Mottley’s own second term as PM.
Ms Mottley herself has not indicated either way whether she has an interest in the job, or if she intends to lead her Barbados Labour Party in a third general election, which is constitutionally due in January 2027. Significantly, though, others around the world have recognised in Ms Mottley many of the traits that would make her the ideal lead of the UN in the current global environment, and have begun to make her the unofficial front-runner for the post.
There were hints about this last year. Colum Lynch, senior global reporter for Devex, wrote:
Mottley’s environmental advocacy has catapulted the leader of a tiny island nation of about 300,000 people into a global force on climate change. And she does so as governments look increasingly unlikely to meet the target they set in the Paris Agreement of limiting the earth’s rise in temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030. Failure will almost certainly lead to more menacing floods, storms, and droughts.
Her bold oratory has also broken her into the conversation among United Nations diplomats about who might emerge as potential candidates for U.N. secretary-general in 2026. Her name has eclipsed other potential contenders like Costa Rican Rebeca Grynspan, secretary-general of the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, and Michelle Bachelet, the former Chilean president and U.N. human rights high commissioner, whose prospects for the top U.N. job have been tangled by the power struggle between China and the United States.
“People are talking about [Mottley] as the first female secretary-general. Who knows? She’s probably too much of a free spirit and independent to ever get the job. But she’s in the conversation,” said one U.N.-based diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk publicly.
If you, like me, don’t know just what a U.N. secretary-general actually does, the Council of Foreign Relations has an informative and detailed backgrounder:
- The secretary-general, appointed by the General Assembly’s 193 member states, serves as the chief administrative officer of the United Nations.
- Common responsibilities include making appointments to UN posts, overseeing peacekeeping missions, and mediating conflict.
- Previous secretaries-general have often struggled to balance the role’s competing interests. Current officeholder António Guterres has focused on climate change, peacekeeping, and reforming UN management. …
Despite the broad and vague requirements of the job, some informal norms are observed in appointments for the post. Secretaries-general usually come from countries considered to be small- or medium-sized neutral powers. To date, all appointees have been male career diplomats. They generally serve no more than two five-year terms. Although a national from an Eastern European country has yet to hold the seat, regional rotation is observed. The five permanent members of the Security Council—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—by custom avoid nominating their nationals.
The U.N.’s Dag Hammarskjöld Library lists the history of secretary-generals:
António Guterres is the current Secretary-General of the United Nations.
He is the ninth Secretary-General, his term began 1 January 2017.
The list of Secretaries-General, with the date of their term in office, is:
- Trygve Lie, from Norway, 1946-1952
- Dag Hammarskjöld, from Sweden, 1953-1961
- U Thant, from Burma (now Myanmar), 1961-1971
- Kurt Waldheim, from Austria, 1972-1981
- Javier Perez de Cuellar, from Peru, 1982-1991
- Boutros Boutros-Ghali, from Egypt, 1992-1996
- Kofi A. Annan, from Ghana, 1997-2006
- Ban Ki-moon, from Republic of Korea, 2007-2016
- António Guterres, from Portugal, 2017-present
Gladwyn Jebb, from the United Kingdom, served as Acting Secretary-General from 24 October 1945 – 1 February 1946.
Very clearly, a selection of Mottley would break a gender glass ceiling. She would also continue and expand Guterres’ focus on climate change. On Sept. 22, 2023, Mottley once again addressed the U.N.:
MIA AMOR MOTTLEY, Prime Minister of Barbados, questioned whether the world’s actions will be sufficient to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. She pointed out that, as of last year, 735 million suffered from chronic hunger, and that more people are likely to be hungry in 2030 than in 2015. Fundamental governance changes are thus imperative. While calling for a regulatory framework to ensure that artificial intelligence is used righteously, she observed that this area is not the immediate focus of many. Turning to climate change, she claimed that multinational corporations engaged in fossil fuels have always known the consequences of their actions. They must take responsibility and the international community needs to engage them meaningfully and credibly, she underscored, noting that their activities are bolstered by financial institutions as well as insurance and transport companies — they are, however, invisible in the transactions.
“We cannot continue to put the interests of a few before the lives of many,” she declared. At the same time, she commended the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) establishment of a Resilience and Sustainability Trust that that will make funds available to vulnerable middle-income countries. Welcoming that the World Bank has acknowledged the necessity of debt-pause clauses, she advocated for their applicability also to existing instruments. Reality has disconfirmed the belief that short-term money can finance development and resilience, she said, arguing that markets should be educated on why long-term capital is “the only salvation for people and the planet.” She also urged developed States to accept that reparatory justice is their obligation. This must be a conversation of equal partners rather than “an active charity of those who simply feel that their conscience must be cleansed,” she stated.
She also held a conversation on Sept. 22 with World Bank President Ajay Banga about the World Bank’s commitment to pausing debt repayment for countries that have been affected by natural disasters:
For those of you who may be new to this series, I have covered Mottley frequently in the past.
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I’m pulling for her to be selected. What do you think?
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