As detailed in our Policy Platform, the 1 for 8 Billion campaign calls upon Member States to adopt the following policies to ensure an inclusive process and a level playing field for candidates from all around the world:

  1. Member States should only consider nominating women candidates.

  2. We should build on the reforms of 2016 to create a more transparent and inclusive process. Straw polls must be made public.

  3. All candidates should be meaningfully scrutinised through improved hearings at the UN General Assembly and assessed using objective, transparent criteria.

  4. For the many, not the few: states should jointly nominate candidates, and nominate non-nationals. The General Assembly should be given a choice of candidates.

  5. Campaigning with integrity: candidates must publish their sources of funding and budgets, and there must be no trading of favours in exchange for support.

EXPANDING ON THESE POLICIES

A women SG

Enough is enough. After 80 years of men-only leadership it is time for a woman to serve as UN Secretary-General. Member States should therefore only consider nominating women candidates. At a time when the UN’s legitimacy is in doubt, and when historical injustices can be no longer tolerated, we need a feminist woman leader who reflects the future we want and the UN we need to get there. The organisation sets standards and expectations for the world; it cannot lead us into a future of gender equality until its own house is in order.

A more transparent, more inclusive process

The next selection process should build on the best practice established in 2016. The Presidents of the General Assembly and Security Council must release a joint letter no later than the start of the General Assembly’s 80th session which:

  • calls for nominations of women candidates by Member States;

  • recognises the positive role to be played by civil society and the public;

  • urges Members States to jointly nominate candidates and to work in collaboration with parliaments, the public and civil society organisations in conducting a widespread and inclusive search to bring the strongest possible candidates into the race;

  • outlines a clear timeline for the process including a deadline for nominations;

  • articulates the selection criteria and global expectations for the position;

  • stresses the importance of full-disclosure of candidature financing;

  • makes clear that full participation in all aspects of the process is mandatory for all candidates. After the candidate hearings, the process must not then retreat into the shadows. The results of any straw polls or deliberative mechanisms must be published. The Presidents of the General Assembly and Security Council should jointly work to ensure Member States and the public are kept up to date on progress, including via press updates, social media posts, and briefings.

Improved hearings at the UN General Assembly

Hearings with candidates should be held at the UN General Assembly, as they were in 2016 and 2021, but this time the process should go further. States and civil society representatives must be given time to effectively hold candidates to account. Specifically:

  • the time allocated for civil society questions should be increased;

  • there should be an attempt to increase the interactivity and diversity of participating civil society by allowing live questions, loosening the criteria for inclusion, and allowing virtual participation;

  • candidates should be asked a mixture of written questions for which they can prepare in advance, (and thus make responses in the form of pledges for which they can be held accountable), and live oral supplementary questions which will improve interactivity and ensure candidates are meaningfully scrutinised;

  • the PGA should work with candidates, states, and civil society to develop the most engaging and interactive formats for the sessions and to ensure that time is used effectively.

For the many not the few

States should work together to jointly nominate candidates and should be willing to nominate candidates who are not their own nationals. All candidates should aspire to be co-nominated by a broad and diverse selection of Member States from all regions. Nowhere is it written that states can only nominate their own nationals as candidates, and no nation should be able to veto the candidacy of an exceptional world leader just because of the passport they happen to hold. Nor is it appropriate for the world’s leading international civil servant, whose allegiance should be to the entire world, to be solely nominated by one nation.

The Security Council should provide the General Assembly with a shortlist of two or more candidates from which a democratic selection can be made, as allowed for by the UN Charter and as supported by an overwhelming majority of UN Member States. But even if that does not happen, the 178 members of the General Assembly who are not on the Security Council must be allowed to have their say by articulating their expectations and preferences before any formal decisions are made. The final choice should be a candidate the nations of the world are enthusiastic about, not one they merely reluctantly accept. The Office of the President of the General Assembly must be sufficiently resourced to ensure that they can play their proper role as the co-convener of this process on behalf of the world’s 193 states.

No candidate should have a better or worse chance of becoming Secretary-General as a consequence of their birthplace. We should question why so few successful candidates for senior leadership come from certain regions, certain nations, and certain backgrounds within nations; and the role global power dynamics, race, economics, and power more broadly play in limiting opportunities to succeed. States should task the incoming Secretary-General with commissioning a study into how systemic and structural barriers to attaining leadership positions in international institutions can be overcome

Campaigning with integrity

Building on the resolution adopted during its 77th session, the General Assembly should pass a resolution insisting that every candidate publish the sources and the amounts of their funding for their selection campaigns. This information should be made available on the President of the General Assembly’s website prior to the first Security Council straw poll.

Candidates must publicly commit to uphold the Charter of the United Nations (in particular their obligations under articles 100 and 101 not to trade in political favours with Member States) and that they will honour the wishes of the General Assembly by ending the damaging practice of appointing successive nationals from the same state to senior roles. Likewise states must not seek to extract promises from candidates in return for their support. States must instead use the selection process to hold candidates to account, and to push for an independent, inspiring, feminist leader who will fulfil the core obligations of the United Nations to stand up for human rights, work for peace and security, and pursue sustainable development that leaves no one behind and mitigates and adapts to climate change.

See our Policy Platform and 2025 Briefing for more details on our recommendations for member states and the Presidents of the General Assembly and Security Council