After serving two five-year terms as Secretary-General, the chief administrative officer of the United Nations (UN), António Guterres will step down at the end of this year. The search is on to choose a successor. Ten years ago, Guterres was elected on October 13th. Given this timeline, we can expect the next and tenth UN Secretary-General will be chosen soon.

For those who care about the life issues, whoever is chosen to be the next Secretary General of the UN is of great significance.

How is the Secretary-General (S-G) selected? Candidates are nominated by member states and the winner is selected by the 15-member Security Council with the five permanent members all in agreement. After that, the name is sent to the General Assembly for final approval in accordance with Article 97 of the Charter of the United Nations.

For some time there has been a strong current calling for a woman to become the next and first female S-G. Indeed, on several occasions, Guterres remarked smilingly that all he had to do “is resign” so that a woman can become S-G, given that the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed of Nigeria, is a woman. It is interesting to note that she is not in the running.

Currently, eight candidates are running for S-G: five women and three men. Six are from Latin America and two from Africa. Geographical rotation is common at the UN. The last two heads have been from Asia and Europe. Historically, of the nine Secretarys General, only one has come from Latin America.

It’s fair to say that most important to pro-life advocates is where these candidates stand on issues such as abortion, or in UN parlance, reproductive rights.

Who is running for UN Secretary-General?

At this time, the UN member states have nominated the following candidates:

Michelle BACHELET Jeria of Chile, nominated by Chile, Brazil, and Mexico.

Bachelet, a socialist, was twice President of Chile; the first Executive Director of UN Women when the entity was established in 2011; and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. She is the best known and most experienced of the candidates and was considered the front runner except that reportedly she is opposed by the United States. Interestingly, when the new right-wing government of Chile came to power in March, Prime Minister José Antonio Kast withdrew Chile’s support for Bachelet. The other two countries did not. One important fact, however, is that Bachelet just turned 75 in September. If elected she would be succeeding Guterres who is 78.

Views on life issues: Supports abortion access; expanded abortion access in Chile and advocates globally for sexual and reproductive health programs.

Rebeca GRYNSPAN Mayufis of Costa Rica, nominated by Costa Rica.

Grynspan is currently the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva. An economist by training, she was also Vice President of Costa Rica (1994–8) and held other cabinet posts. She is the daughter of Polish Jewish refugees and is one of the very few Jewish people in high positions within the UN system. (Israel is not held in high regard at the UN.) Her economic background would seem appropriate at this time given the severe financial crisis the UN is currently experiencing with several countries in arrears regarding their assessed dues, especially the United States, the largest contributor. Grynspan is 70 years old.

Views on life issues: Supports UN gender-equality frameworks and reproductive rights, including abortion services and contraception, aligning with mainstream UN positions.

Carolyn RODRIGUES-BIRKETT of Guyana, nominated by Guyana.

Rodrigues-Birkett has been her country’s Ambassador to the UN since 2020 and is widely known in headquarters. Married with three children, she started her career as an elementary school teacher. She later joined the government and held cabinet posts covering Indigenous Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, and International Cooperation. She also held various high-level posts within the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (FAO) and did a one-year stint on the Security Council when Guyana was one of the rotating participants. At age 53, she is the youngest candidate.

Views on life issues: Supports Guyana’s legal framework allowing abortion and advocates for broader gender-equality initiatives and access to reproductive healthcare programs, including abortion services and contraception.

Maria Fernanda ESPINOSA Garcés of Ecuador, nominated by Antigua and Barbuda.

Espinosa was a cabinet member holding posts as Minister of Foreign Affairs, National Defense and Heritage. She has a strong interest in climate affairs and indigenous affairs. When she was Ambassador to the UN, she served as President of the General Assembly (a one-year assignment) for the 2018–19 session. She is 62 years old.

Views on life issues: Vocal proponent of expanded access to abortion and contraception as key components of her view of human rights and gender equity.

Rafael Mariano GROSSI of Argentina, nominated by Argentina.

Like the above women candidates, Grossi has both government and UN experience. Grossi is currently Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the UN, based in Vienna. He has held several cabinet posts including Foreign Affairs, and he was Ambassador to several European countries. Grossi speaks eight languages, is a graduate of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, and holds dual Argentinian–Italian citizenship given that his paternal grandparents emigrated from the Piedmont region of Italy. He is the father of eight children, six daughters from his first marriage and a son and daughter with his second wife. He holds numerous honorary degrees and is aged 65.

Views on life issues: Focuses primarily on nuclear security; maintains a Catholic background with no public record of strong advocacy on abortion.

Mackey SALL of Senegal, nominated by Burundi.

Sall was President of Senegal (2012–24) and has held several posts within the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), a part of the African Union Development Agency. He has no UN experience. Sall speaks only French but can read speeches in English. He is aged 65.

Views on life issues: Maintained Senegal’s strict anti-abortion laws while in office, resisting domestic and international pressures.

Olara OTUNNU of Uganda, nominated by Uganda.

Otunno was Foreign Affairs Minister for one year and was his country’s Ambassador to the UN (1980–85). He also served as the Under Secretary-General/first Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict (1998–2005). He is 76 years of age.

Views on life issues: Focuses heavily on child protection and human rights in conflict zones; holds a socially conservative background with limited public statements on abortion.

Ivonne A-BAKI of Ecuador, nominated by the Pacific island nation of Tonga.

A-Baki, a Lebanese-Ecuadorian, has no UN experience but served in her country’s diplomatic service. She twice served as Ambassador to the United States (1998–2002 and 2020–24). When serving during the time of the first Trump presidency, she is known for having had a good relationship with the American president. Her age is 75.

Views on life issues: Diplomatic focus on peace and environmental issues; no public stance or active record on abortion or social life issues.

(A ninth candidate, Virginia Gamba of Argentina, nominated by the Maldives, withdrew from the race two weeks after her nomination in March.)

Town Hall Debates, Straw Polls, and the Road Ahead

The last three nominations were announced after a Town Hall meeting was held at the General Assembly on July 23, courtesy of Bloomberg News. The six then candidates answered a series of questions relating to their experience and plans for their leadership of the UN system, perhaps summarized best by Bachelet who pledged to “deliver more and better.” It is likely that the next Secretary-General will be chosen from those six. The best “performances” were delivered by Grossi, Birkett, and Grynspan.

The next step is a series of straw polls taken among the 15 members of the Security Council. The polling consists of each country expressing one of three opinions for each candidate: encourage, discourage, and no opinion. Two polls have already taken place. In the first, Grynspan received 10 encourage votes and Birkett 9. In the second, Birkett 8 and Grynspan 7.

At the last election 10 years ago, there were originally 13 candidates and five straw polls. The victor was the former Prime Minister of Portugal, António Guterres who was eminently qualified and promised effective leadership, but turned out to be a big disappointment. Guterres was greeted with much hope by prolifers when he was elected given that when he was Prime Minister of Portugal (1995–2002), he opposed a move by his own socialist party to introduce abortion in a referendum, and, when it was put to vote, it was defeated. As a result, there was hope he would defend life at the United Nations too, but unfortunately that did not happen. Instead, in many of his pronouncements over the years he was explicit in his support for reproductive rights (read: abortion access to spread, even in countries where it is not culturally accepted). In addition, his leadership has been found wanting since there are more belligerencies around the world now and the UN has been weakened by disagreements among the permanent members of the Security Council and the sizable assessment arrears. The severity of the UN’s current status on the global stage led the Wall Street Journal to start off a recent editorial with this line: “In times of crisis, serious people don’t turn to the United Nations” (April 8, 2026).

The tenth UN Secretary-General will be chosen soon, and you can expect us to keep you informed on what that will mean for the future.

Stay tuned . . .