Canada is seeking more transparency and broader involvement of member countries in selecting the next UN secretary general, according to a set of proposals released by the Canadian mission Wednesday.

Secretary General Kofi Annan is due to step down Dec. 31 after having served 10 years.

Informal chatter among UN delegates had been growing louder over the way his successor is chosen, but the five-page Canadian document is the first official proposal from a member country.

"I know that there are ideas circulating among some delegations who want to have a reform of the selection process," says Axel Cruau, spokesman for the French mission to the UN. "They would like the General Assembly to be more involved."

The Canadian mission emailed its proposal to all other delegations at the United Nations, arguing "the lack of transparency and inclusiveness of the exercise has become increasingly noticeable."

The current procedure "compares poorly with the practices of some other international organizations," the document says. It suggested revamping the selection process to provide more involvement by all UN member states rather than keeping the decision within the 15-member Security Council.

The UN Charter specifies that a secretary general is confirmed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. In reality, all the decision-making powers reside with the five permanent members of the Security Council who can veto any candidates they do not favour.

"We are calling for transparency," says a spokesperson at Foreign Affairs Canada. "One of the reasons why we released these proposals is to open a discussion on this."

The three proposed changes are:
- Forming a search committee to identify candidates.
- Holding informal sessions where UN member states can pose questions to the candidates.
- Defining a list of qualifications or criteria that potential candidates should hold.

In the meantime, Canada is calling on the UN to organize a series of public events "to provide a setting in which current and emerging candidates might introduce themselves to the UN community."

At the January meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Annan led a roundtable discussion on UN reform with a gathering of individuals believed aspiring to replace him.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton did not comment on specifics of the Canadian proposal but indicated debate on the selection method should happen within the Security Council.

"As you know, the Charter of the United Nations specifies that the Security Council takes the first action, and we've begun those consultations," Bolton told reporters.

In January, Bolton suggested that a new secretary general should be chosen by the middle of the year and not in December as usual. He also suggested that the UN should consider adopting a "job description" to clarify what tasks the secretary general is expected to perform.

But at a recent news conference, Russian Ambassador Andrey Denisov dismissed the notion that the selection procedure should be changed. "As far as the process is concerned, well, we prefer to follow a traditional way of handling the matter of the election of a new secretary general," Denisov said.

Several candidates have been mentioned as possible successors to Annan, including South Korea's foreign minister, a prominent Sri Lankan peace negotiator and the deputy prime minister of Thailand.

It is generally expected that the next secretary general should come from Asia, although the United States has dismissed the idea that the top UN job should rotate among geographic regions.

Source: The Star