Top Guyanese diplomat Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett has pledged to help the United Nations balance its priorities against growing financial constraints, saying structural reforms are needed without sacrificing efficiency.
Birkett, nominated by Guyana to be the next UN Secretary-General, was questioned on her vision by civil society organisations during a three-hour session at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday.
Inquiries centred on her leadership and the UN Charter’s foundational pillars of peace and security, human rights and sustainable development.
She said the organisation was facing a critical liquidity crisis but that adjustments must not come at the cost of effective delivery.
“It is important that when we make those adjustments we do not compromise the efficiency, but I also believe we could have structural alignment that will preserve the functions of the agencies, funds, and programmes and that we can be better able to deliver,” she said.
Birkett said she intended to continue the work of the UN80 Initiative, which seeks to make the organisation more agile and cost-effective amid shrinking resources and geopolitical tensions.
“The good work on improving efficiencies in the Secretariat we have to continue to do that,” she said, citing advancements on programmatic and structural alignments and the manner in which member states handle mandates.
She reinforced the importance of the United Nations, saying no country was untouched by its work. Birkett said the body had set global standards on issues ranging from decolonisation and human rights to dispute resolution and environmental protocols, bringing greater order to the international space.
