On August 31, 2022, Michelle Bachelet stepped down as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. What could have been a smooth day – after four years at the head of the office – ended up being quite the opposite. The eyes of the international community and mainly of China – a permanent member of the UN Security Council and the largest commercial power in the world – were on her.
For months, the Asian giant had pressured for Bachelet’s long-awaited report on human rights violations in China not to be published. The efforts were intense and at all levels, from the institutional to the personal. Days before leaving her high position at the UN, the former Chilean president, in her latest management review, acknowledged that China increased pressure, through a letter signed by 40 countries, so that the report would not be seen. the light. On the last day of her mandate, the spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jeremy Laurence, ended the mystery. “The report will be published by the end of the day,” she said briefly, to the surprise of the entire world.
So it was. With Michelle Bachelet already out of the organization, the report was released which – among other points – concluded that the arbitrary and discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and members of other predominantly Muslim groups, in the Chinese province of Xinjiang (northwest), “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”
When less than two years have passed since that moment, in which Bachelet’s image was on the cover of the main international media, the name of the former head of UN Women is once again making a loud noise. While in Chile the polls continue to position her as presidential – for the third time – but with a scant 7%, in international circuits the weight of her name is being felt both in the UN offices in New York and in Geneva. .
On December 31, 2026, the second term of the Portuguese, António Guterres at the helm of the UN General Secretariat, expires. As this is a presidency that is understood to be rotating, there is broad consensus that the period that begins on January 1, 2027 will be headed by an authority from Latin America and the Caribbean. Furthermore, it is expected that the highest representation of the United Nations will fall – this time – on a woman. If it happens, it would be the first time in 80 years that the organization is not led by a man.
In this context, the medium Passblue – which is dedicated to covering United Nations relations and agenda – conducted a survey among diplomats, UN staff and civil society groups, to see who has sufficient support and background to replace Guterres. Five names emerged from the result. Michelle Bachelet appears as the favorite.
Bachelet and the support of Brazil
2,220 people from different continents participated in the survey. Bachelet emerged as the winner with 23.9 percent of the votes.
From New York, the Chilean ambassador to the UN, Paula Narváez, commented to The counter that appearing as a favorite “is a recognition of the career and leadership of former President Bachelet in the international arena.”
“She is a very prominent figure in the United Nations system for her contribution as the first executive director of UN Women and, later, as High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Her profile generates trust among the Member States due to her experience, capacity and personality, providing guarantees of fairness and solidity in management,” said Narváez, who already in January of this year had indicated that the name of Michelle Bachelet was being raised as an alternative to succeed António Guterres.
“Her name makes special sense, since there is consensus among States that, after almost 80 years of existence of the Organization, the next Secretary General of the United Nations must be a woman. And, finally, we Latin Americans of course believe that whoever succeeds António Guterres in office must be someone from our region,” added the ambassador.
For a candidate to assume the head of the United Nations Organization, they must be appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council.
The Security Council has 15 members and each has one vote. Permanent members include China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Although Brazil is currently not among the non-permanent members, it has been the Latin American country that has joined the Council the most times, even holding the presidency of the organization in October of last year. According to international sources, Brazil, through Lula da Silva, is one of Bachelet’s main promoters.
Among the backgrounds that are most valued is the fact of having been President of Chile on two occasions; have 16 recognitions as a doctor Honorary from prestigious universities around the world; having been the first head of the UN Women office and, of course, having held the position of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Although various diplomatic sources agree that from this last responsibility his character and resilience are internationally celebrated, it is also not unknown that he left people wounded along the way and that they feel like permanent members of the Security Council.
Bachelet’s first act as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is remembered from her time in this office: the same day she took office, she asked for the freedom of Kyaw Soe Oo and Thet Oo Maung, journalists from the agency. Reuters who were sentenced to seven years in prison for – according to the accusers – violating a law on State Secrets in Myanmar. That same 2018, he released the first report on Venezuela, where he noted that 7,000 people had been murdered in alleged cases of “resistance to authority.” Likewise, he highlighted that the Maduro regime launched “a strategy aimed at neutralizing, repressing and criminalizing the political opposition.”
During her mandate, Bachelet questioned the statements of Donald Trump – then president of the United States – against Democratic congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York), Ilhan Omar (Minnesota), Ayanna Pressley (Massachusetts) and Rashida Tlaib (Michigan). These were harsh criticisms of the former US president, who attacked the legislators, recalling his foreign ancestry. But the problem with the Republican administration in the US came even earlier. As published at the time by the site Foreign Policythe White House would have tried to prevent the appointment of Bachelet as High Commissioner, questioning the positions of Chilean politics on issues such as the conflict between Israel and Palestine and human rights violations in the United States.
Who are the other candidates?
Mia Mottley (Barbados)
The name of Mottley, 58, has been circulated as a potential candidate in recent years, due to her focus on reforming international financial institutions, along with climate activism. In addition to being the current Prime Minister of Barbados, the lawyer He was twice Leader of the Opposition in his country’s House of Assembly, first from 2008 to 2010 and then from 2013 to 2018. In 2018, Mottley won a historic landslide victory in the May 24 general election, securing 30 seats. Mottley won a second term in the 2022 general election, once again sweeping all 30 seats in the legislature.
María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés (Ecuador)
Although María Fernanda Espinosa appears in third place in the survey Passblue, Various sources maintain that this is one of the strongest candidates, and that it could be a strong rival for Bachelet, although the violation of Mexican sovereignty by the president of his country, Daniel Noboa, by forcibly removing the Mexican embassy to former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas, accused of corruption, leaves his country in a very bad light, especially when Ecuador is currently a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Espinosa was an advisor on biodiversity and indigenous peoples (1999-2005) and regional director for South America (2005-2007) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador on two occasions, between 2007 and 2008 and then between 2017 and 2018. She was also an ambassador, permanent representative to the United Nations in New York (2008-2009) and in Geneva (2014-2017), and Minister of National Defense of Ecuador (2012-2014). In June 2018 she was elected by a vote of two-thirds of the Member States as President of the United Nations General Assembly. Espinosa Garcés became the fourth woman in the 73-year history of the United Nations to be elected to preside over the General Assembly.
Alicia Bárcena Ibarra (Mexico)
Alicia Bárcena held the position of Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) between July 2008 and March 2022. Previously, she served as Deputy Secretary General for Management at United Nations Headquarters in New York, and served as chief of staff and deputy chief of staff to Kofi Annan, then secretary general of the United Nations.
At ECLAC she held the position of deputy executive secretary and director of the Environment and Human Settlements Division. At the United Nations she was coordinator of the Sustainable Development Program for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and coordinator of the Environmental Citizenship Project of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
In addition, he founded and directed the Earth Council, a non-governmental organization based in Costa Rica, in charge of monitoring the agreements signed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janeiro. (Brazil), in 1992.
Within his professional career, it is considered that he has been very relevant to building the institutions in charge of environmental protection in Mexico.
Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis (Costa Rica)
Although it does not appear in the top five positions in the survey, sources from the multilateral field agree that it is also a strong card. Grynspan Mayufis She is currently Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development since September 13, 2021. He was head of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB) since April 1, 2014.
In 2010 she was elected Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) and Associate Administrator of the UNDP. Between 2006 and 2010 she was regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Development Program.
Before joining the UN, she was vice president of Costa Rica (1994-1998). She also served as Minister of Housing, Coordinating Minister of Economic and Social Affairs, and Deputy Minister of Finance.
Additionally, he was a member of the High-Level Panel on Financing for Development convened by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2001.