Submit your questions to the candidate(s) for UN Secretary-General

The President of the General Assembly, Mr Volkan Bozkir, is inviting civil society organizations and individuals to submit questions, a selection of which will be put to Mr Guterres during the event.  The meeting, which will be broadcast live on UN Web TV, represents a rare opportunity to hold the UN Secretary-General to account. We urge those in our network to make use of the opportunity and submit a question.

Submit your questions here by 30 April 2021

Currently Mr Guterres is the only candidate recognised by the President of the General Assembly and the Security Council. Should this change, additional General Assembly hearings may be scheduled and the same submission portal will be used to source further questions.

While Together First welcomes the inclusion of civil society questions in candidates’ official General Assembly hearings, we note that the format allows limited time for a thorough exchange. We echo the calls from 1 for 7 Billion (the global campaign committed to getting the best Secretary-General) for the President of the General Assembly to consider facilitating further opportunities for civil society participation, including through live interactions at a global town hall event or similar. 

We welcome the recent intervention on this matter from ACT - a coalition of 25 small and medium-sized states calling for greater accountability, coherence and transparency of the Security Council - which reinforces this position as well as specifically asking that modalities on 7 May allow “ample time for civil society organisation questions to be heard and answered”.

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