Good morning, this is Michelle. It takes a certain kind of person to want to run the United Nations these days.
This week in New York, the four candidates brave enough – or crazy enough – to want to steer the organisation through one of its most turbulent periods yet had a chance to make their case.
We rounded up the key takeaways from their priorities on peace and reform to how they plan to handle great-power pressure and keep an 80-year-old organisation relevant. But perhaps more revealing than their carefully crafted answers was the sheer breadth of challenges they will be called to juggle. |
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A screenshot of Rebeca Grynspan, the osta Rican candidate for UN secretary eneral, laying out her vision for the ole before ambassadors to the UN in New ork, 22 April 2026. (UN WebTV) A creenshot of Rebeca Grynspan, the Costa ican candidate for UN secretary eneral, laying out her vision for the ole before ambassadors to the UN in New ork, 22 April 2026. (UN WebTV)
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The four candidates vying for the UN’s top role were grilled by ambassadors and campaigners over two days this week in New York, each facing three-hour-long sessions in which they had as little as two minutes to answer questions that at times contained as many as five separate inquiries.
The sessions tested the applicants’ vision for the organisation’s future as it grapples with a funding and credibility crisis, pressing them to sketch out how they would tackle global problems, all while navigating loaded questions that implicitly called out powerful states for their rogue behaviour. The exercise is not for the faint-hearted.
Read the full story on Geneva Solutions.
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Here's what else is happening
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👷🏼♂️International Labour Organization appoints US official as deputy head after months‑long delay.
Sheng Li, the current principal deputy assistant secretary for policy at the US Department of Labor, has been tapped for the role after former nominee Nels Nordquist, a former Trump adviser, withdrew over the delay.
Reuters (EN)
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📢Geneva has a chance to set the rules for AI use in warfare.
The world’s leading AI summit will take place next year in Geneva. Switzerland hopes to use the occasion to bring states to the table and secure commitments to uphold international humanitarian law, even as they race to gain the upper hand in the tech arms race.
Le Temps🔐 (FR)
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🇺🇳UN ‘working on’ keeping presence in Lebanon in 2027.
The UNIFIL, which has served as a peacekeeping force between Israel and Lebanon since 1978, will see its mandate expire at the end of the year. But the UN head of peace operations said there was a desire from Lebanon to extend the UN’s presence.
AFP via Arab News (EN)
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🪖Libya fueled war in Sudan with Colombian mercenaries and equipment, UN report finds.
A panel of experts on Libya, which covered October 2024 to February 2026, found that the Subul al-Salam Battalion facilitated the transfer of recruits, weapons and fuel across the border to support the Rapid Support Forces in its war against the Sudanese army.
Associated Press (EN)
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🤝Opinion: No more backroom deals at the UN.
The five permanent Security Council members have long flouted the UN charter's rules on appointing independent figures to senior roles, instead reserving certain positions for their own nationals in exchange for political support during the secretary-general race. It stands to happen again this year, three UN governance experts warn.
Devex (EN)
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