By David Brunnstrom and Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. envoy to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, appeared to torpedo the candidacy of former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to be the next leader of the world body on Wednesday by saying he shared a U.S. senator’s concerns about her fitness for the job.
At a U.S. Senate committee hearing, Republican Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska charged that Bachelet had pulled punches as U.N. human rights chief in a 2022 report in failing to label China’s actions against Uyghur Muslims as genocide, and has also promoted abortion as a fundamental human right.
Waltz said he was not currently in a position to say whom the United States would support to replace U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and whom it would oppose. But he said in response to Ricketts, “I share your concerns.”
He added that he was sure that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also shared the concerns.
A new United Nations secretary-general will be elected this year for a five-year term starting on January 1, 2027.
Support of the five permanent veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council – the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France – is vital for a candidate to succeed.
Bachelet also fell foul of China over the Uyghur report, which said the detention of Uyghurs and other Muslims in the country’s Xinjiang province may constitute crimes against humanity.
A representative for Bachelet’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Waltz said the conventional wisdom and in New York, where the United Nations has its headquarters, was that because there had never been a female secretary general, or one from Latin America, that the future U.N. leader should therefore be a Latin American woman.
“We have taken the position of we just need the best,” he said. “And this institution desperately needs strong, effective leadership.”
Waltz said, “reform, reform, reform … and getting back to basics on peace and security will be at the top of our criteria.”
So far four candidates have been nominated, including Bachelet, Chile’s first female head of state, who twice served as president of the South American nation.
In March, Chile withdrew its backing for her candidacy after a change in leadership in the country and a sharp shift to the right, but she said she would press ahead with support from Brazil and Mexico.
Bachelet was U.N. high commissioner for human rights from 2018-22 and executive director of U.N. Women from 2010-13.
The other declared candidates are Rafael Grossi, a veteran Argentine diplomat who is currently director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rebeca Grynspan, a former vice president of Costa Rica, and Macky Sall, the former president of Senegal.
The candidates are due to take part in interactive dialogues next week at the United Nations that will be broadcast live, starting with Bachelet on Tuesday.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Patricia ZengerleEditing by Nick Zieminski)
