Dear friends,

Where to start?

Trump and his war on anyone not bending to his will while pursuing a colonial and imperialist agenda? The fact that the United Nations and other intergovernmental institutions are clearly failing to respond, and being dismantled both by their lack of action and by a few mad men?

Look, if you’ve read the news over the last few weeks you have seen at least some of what I just mentioned: European countries waking up to international law when talking about Greenland while being silent about Gaza and arming Israel’s genocide. Trump pulling out of 66 international organisations. And more.

In the midst of all this madness, it’s easy to forget that the UN is currently choosing its next Secretary General. Behind closed doors. In a process that reflects everything that’s wrong with the system and enables the world’s disasters to keep on happening, over and over again.

How the UN chief is chosen

The next United Nations Secretary-General will not be elected but selected. Every five years, a few world powers choose the Chief of the United Nations behind closed doors and without any public involvement, resulting in a man being selected to preserve the status quo.

That’s obviously an oversimplification, but it’s the gist of it.

• The UN website will tell you that the General Assembly - which represents all countries - appoints this person on the recommendation of the Security Council.

• Here’s the thing: the Security Council always recommends just one candidate, which means they decide. On top of that, its Permanent Members - the US, UK, France, China & Russia - have a right to veto. They alone choose who will become the next leader of the UN, as they can block anyone else.

• It results in the person that will upset the least/appease the most those hyper-polarized powers being selected instead of someone with a vision of how to get out of the perma-crises we are in.

What it represents

This person has little actual power but that of their words, and moral courage to stand up to the most powerful countries in the world. How can they do this when they campaign to appeal to those very countries, and thus appease them. The UN Chief selection-process represents a system built by the few, for the few.

What is currently happening

The current UN secretary-general’s term ends on December 31st, 2026. The UN has thus launched its usual untransparent and undemocratic process, dressing it up with a few open Q&As and other cosmetic changes. In short, countries are supposed to nominate candidates by April 1st, with interactive dialogues happening at the end of April (what is the point of dialogues without having a real vote?!).

What will the consequences be?

If yet another superpower-pleaser is chosen, I don’t see how the UN has a chance to be reborn from its ashes. And while imperfect, we need an international system to deal with crises that our governments can’t handle nationally, from climate change to pandemics! What is needed is not someone to preserve the status quo: it has been dead for years. It is someone with the vision and moral clarity to stand by basic human principles and build an organisation serving us all, the people of this world, to ensure climate, poverty, wars, AI, and pandemics don’t destroy us.

Back-room deals and appeasement have led us down a terrible path. We need change right now, or we need to build another organization with countries willing to pull themselves together for humanity’s benefit.

What can we do about it?

I launched my campaign for UN Chief almost two years ago with the idea of challenging in the open a process that too many seek to keep secret.

I won’t lie. Despite some encouraging signs (e.g. I reached millions on social media or met the UN General Assembly President at the UNHQ), being chosen is extremely unlikely, but that’s not the point. By campaigning for this position and refusing to play their messed up game, we can force other candidates to be open and more accountable, while pushing countries that may still have a moral backbone to reform this system together and bringing to the top of the news a radical and progressive political agenda that could then be implemented.

You can support it by clicking here.

What have I done during the campaign?

So far, we:

1. crowdsourced, wrote, and approved the first people-backed political programme for the UN. This programme is our roadmap to ensure that climate change, artificial intelligence, wars, dictatorships, pandemics, and poverty are quelled to enable humanity to thrive! It’s also the first time the people of the world are involved in shaping UN politics.

2. filed a formal complaint against the United Nations, showing that the United Nations Secretary-General is chosen in a broken and undemocratic process, more opaque than presidential elections in China and Russia.

3. held consultations with everyday citizens. From Nairobi to New York, people told us about how they lost faith in the UN’s ability to do ... anything, and what it would take to rebuild it.

4. organised townhalls with experts to hear their suggestions on how to fix this broken system, including Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, Dr. Habiba Sarabi and UN Special Rapporteur Gina Romero.

5. communicated on UN affairs, reforms and global crises to raise awareness about the need for change, in a less elitist manner than what is often being done. This was done through public lectures, protests, and regular newsletters.

6. partnered with HEC Public Law Clinic to develop a proposal on how to reform the UN Secretary-General Selection Process. You can find the outcome here.

7. organised a big freedom conference with UN experts and freedom fighters to come up with solutions on how to build an international order to stand up for freedom.

8. met with UN officials and ambassadors to try to create momentum from the inside, and attended many UN conferences. This was often the most disappointing part (with a few exceptions), as we were repeatedly told that this is not how the UN works, and that we shouldn’t draw attention to what is wrong as there is enough criticism going around. But we believe that unless it is radically transformed, the UN will die. And then… well then it’s hell. So we need to change it now!

What’s next?

First, you won’t hear a lot from me but from social media work over the next six weeks as I’m going on maternity leave.

However, the team will keep on working and the next few months will be crucial: along with my team, I’ll keep on lobbying countries, pushing the media to to care about the principles at stake, talking about the crises candidates try to avoid and the crimes they’d rather shove under the rug (hum hum who mentioned Palestine here?), and seeking to get candidates to support our programme and do better.

Let’s change the world together!

I still believe we have no choice but to rally in our millions. And that we need a system to work together worldwide, however unsexy this sounds. I don’t care if it’s the UN or another, but we cannot afford to retreat into nationalism: the biggest crises we face are global and deserve global solutions.

So help me try to change what we have right now:

✊ Endorse my campaign here to show the UN there is strength in numbers

📢 Spread the word. I need you to help me get this campaign out there. Forward this email to 10 people, get them to sign on. Talk about it. Get others involved.

Onward,

Colombe

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Colombe Cahen-Salvador (she/her)
Co-Founder & Candidate for United Nations Secretary-General
Atlas
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