Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett has become the first candidate in the 2026 Secretary-General selection process to release an updated financial disclosure. Her campaign confirmed to 1 for 8 Billion on 13 August that it has been funded exclusively by the government of Guyana and the candidate’s personal finances.
Rodrigues Birkett was nominated by Guyana on 15 June. In its nominating letter, the government of Guyana stated that Rodrigues Birkett’s campaign would be financed “through public and personal resources.” These disclosures at the time of nomination are required of all candidates by General Assembly resolution 79/327 (2025).
However, the 1 for 8 Billion campaign has called on all candidates to share updated and detailed financial disclosures not only at the time of nomination but at regular intervals throughout the campaign. It is neither rational nor credible for financial disclosures to be communicated only at the time of nomination, before the bulk of campaign expenditure takes place and given that financial backers may be gained over the course of a campaign. Moreover, disclosures that do not specify the entities providing funding, or the amounts of funding provided, do not meet basic expectations of transparency or fulfill the spirit of transparency embodied in resolution 79/327.
The 1 for 8 Billion Principles for Integrity in UN Secretary-General Campaigns include a commitment to publish “updates on the sources and extent of… campaign funding regularly throughout the campaign period.” Rodrigues Birkett is one of four candidates that have pledged to uphold the Principles for Integrity. The other candidates who have signed on to the Principles are Michelle Bachelet, María Fernanda Espinosa and Rebeca Grynspan.
Thus far – more than halfway through the current Secretary-General selection process – Rodrigues Birkett remains the only candidate to have shared an updated financial disclosure and no candidate has yet published the extent of support they have received. By contrast, in the 2016 selection process, multiple candidates voluntarily disclosed the amount of funding they received from their nominating governments.
The 1 for 8 Billion campaign reasserts its call for all candidates to release updated financial disclosures specifying the entities that are funding them and the amounts they have received from each – the same standard to which, for example, candidates for Director-General of the World Trade Organization are held. All updated disclosures will be published on the 1 for 8 Billion website.
The next Secretary-General will represent the people of the world as an independent civil servant. Updated and detailed financial disclosures will offer the public confidence that the candidates seeking this office are fully committed to transparency and earning the world’s trust.
Image credit: UN Photo / Eskinder Debebe