Antonio Guterres tapped as new UN chief

World Today

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Antonio Guterres was formally chosen by the U.N. Security Council as their nominee to serve for the next five-year term as the next U.N. Secretary General. Guterres, who is the former Prime Minister of Portugal, is likely to be confirmed for the role by the General Assembly next week.


CCTV America’s Lorna Shaddick reports. Follow Lorna Shaddick on Twitter @lornashaddick

One of the largest challenges currently facing the U.N. is the millions of refugees fleeing war-torn Syria. However, it is a problem that Guterres knows well–he headed up the U.N. refugee agency from 2005 to 2015. He’s likely to use that experience as soon as he becomes the world’s diplomat-in-chief next January.

While the Security Council agrees that Guterres is well-suited for the role, it seems that not everyone is happy with the choice. Current U.N. head, Ban Ki Moon, said that he hoped a woman would succeed him.

Half of the original candidates were female, including top U.N. women like New Zealand’s Helen Clark and Costa Rica’s Christiana Figueres.