The secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and aspirant to the UN secretary-generalship, Rebeca Grynspan, has insisted that the international body needs profound changes, noting that in numerous States there is "skepticism and questioning" about its responsiveness.
Grynspan spoke this Monday at the World in Progress (WIP) congress, organized by Prisa at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, in Barcelona, in a conversation with the journalist from "El País" Marc Bassets.
During her intervention, she recalled that "Some of the criticisms made of the UN are criticisms that we can accept. The United Nations do not have to be defensive about that; 81 years have passed since we were created".
A UN "averse to risk"
The Costa Rican economist lamented that the organization has been left out of many negotiating tables, and pointed out that, in her view, "what has happened is that the UN has become averse to risk".
She defended that "The United Nations has to take risks, and the secretary-general has to assume the cost of failure or the cost of rejection", stressing that the institution must be aware of what its function is in each context and adapt to it.
In this line, she pointed out that "It is not about competing all the time so that the United Nations is the only actor. Part of what I criticize the UN for is that, in general, it thinks everything has to happen in the UN, in New York. And we do not have a culture of associating".
Defense of plurality in the United Nations
Grynspan claimed the internal diversity of the UN and underscored that the criticisms of some governments to its founding principles are not a recent phenomenon. She emphasized that the organization "is not a club of countries that think alike".
She recalled that "It does not mean that we all think alike, but precisely for that the UN exists. It exists precisely to find and open spaces of convergence in the divergence and plurality that exist among the 193 countries that make up the organization".
Option to be the first woman at the head of the UN
The head of UNCTAD explained that she is often asked whether the time has come for, for the first time, a woman to take over the leadership of the United Nations. In response, she highlighted the "pressure because, obviously, it has to be the person with the most merits, the most capacity or the greatest experience".
She added that "When we talk about never having been a woman, everyone says 'ah, but it has to be on merit.' I suppose that when we talk about men it also has to be on merit."
As a candidate for the position of secretary general, she reiterated her commitment to the principles of the United Nations Charter and to the priority of "peace at the center, enabling shared progress and human rights for all people".
She concluded by underscoring her personal bond with these values: "I know what peace makes possible and I also know what war takes away from you, because my grandparents died in the holocaust. Therefore, I feel a truly strong and personal commitment to the United Nations".