Next UN Secretary General Elected

António Guterres takes over from Ban Ki-Moon on January 1st and will become the ninth UN Secretary General.

File image of António Guterres. Picture courtesy of www.nndb.com.

Former Portuguese Prime Minister António Guterres has been elected as Ban Ki-Moon's successor in the role of United Nations Secretary General. Mr. Guterres previously held the role of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from 2005 until 2015. Last year he wrote in Time magazine that: "We can't deter people fleeing for their lives. They will come. The choice we have is how well we manage their arrival, and how humanely."

Mr. Guterres, who is fluent in English, French, Spanish as well as Portuguese, believes that bringing about peace in Syria will be his first and most immediate challange:

"I believe it is the international community's first priority is to be able to end this conflict and use this momentum created by it to try to address all the other conflicts that are interlinked...I hope people will understand that it's better to put aside different opinions, different interests and to understand that there is a common, vital interest to put an end to these conflicts, because that is absolutely central if you want to live in a world where a minimum of securities are established, where people can live a normal life." 

Mr. Ban Ki-Moon referred to the incoming UN Secretary General as a man of 'compassion' and that his political values - 'co-operation for the common good and shared responsibility for people and the planet' - mirror those of the UN. 

António Gutterres will become the ninth Secretary General of the UN. The UN was founded in the aftermath of the Second World War.