Indo-Canadian Akanksha Arora, 34, launched a campaign in February to become the next UN Secretary-General. A UN staffer, she has pooled her life savings to back her candidacy, one, which has not yet been recognised by any of the 193 member states of the institution. In an exclusive, Arora explains why a change of guard at the UN is imperative.
“I joined the UN in December 2016 to serve the financial reforms of the UN and I was so thrilled to be invited to this castle on the hill. It is such an elite institution, you have to be super connected to even get through here so I was like 'Wow, I feel so fortunate that I'm here. I've been invited to serve on all these forums',” says Arora. Her decision to challenge the incumbent Antonio Guterres is “influenced by two factors”.
A by-product of early immigration, her grandparents moved to India from Pakistan. “They were street vendors because that is how you finish your education. You have to fend for yourself. They could not finish their own education and so their goal was to make sure their kids are educated, so my parents are physicians. Then we moved to Canada, and Canada has been a great experience for me, I graduated summa cum laude, became a manager at a top firm.”
It wasn't until an accident in 2016, that changed her outlook towards life. “Six weeks after joining the UN, I got hit by a cab. I broke my knee, and I was in the ER, didn't know if I would ever be able to walk again. I was in touch with my mortality. And I was talking to God, please help me get through and I will make a difference in the world. God kept His promise, and I am keeping mine by serving the world,” she says.
'System isn't working'
Her second factor stems from three years of working within the organisation. A whole lot of talk and not much action is what Arora witnesses. “I was in the UN for six weeks and I knew the system wasn't working. Honestly it doesn't take anyone too long to figure out that outside the place is pristine, inside it is not doing what it is supposed to. It's wasteful. The business model is talk talk talk, write reports, conferences, so the world thinks we are busy. Same rhetoric and no results,” Arora says.
While she contemplated going back to what she does best, she says she could not find it in herself to just stand witness to the general lack of action. “I thought to myself, I need to realise my work is to reform the UN financially.”
“After two years, the system gives you two options: either to leave or accept things as they are. The salary is so generous, to be honest. They know you'll be stupid to leave. And I think, how many people before me have been confronted with this choice? We've had nine secretary-generals, eight reforms and I was like no, I will stand for Secretary-General myself.”
She says the decision wasn't “linear”. “I didn't know I was going to do it myself and that was in January 2019. I decided to find another leader, someone who is already established, like an ambassador who would want to do it and I will do the back-end work. I tried to meet a couple, like a former head or a foreign minister. I met them and I told them that the system is not working, we should do something about it, and they said 'oh, we know even worse news than you do. We know darker secrets that even you don't know.'”
For six months Arora tried to find someone who could take a stand and she could support. By July 2019, she decided to take the leap. “I just knew I had to do it. And then Covid-19 happened in March 2020. All this time I spent learning about the UN and I enrolled in the Columbia MBA program and finished that. I learned everything to the nth degree,” she says.
From lack of better funds, Arora finally announced her campaign to her 250,000 email connections. “I just emailed everyone, 'Dear World, today I announce my candidacy.'”
'UN election a hypocritical sham'
The self-nominated candidate has a bone to pick with the higher authorities of the UN. “This is the 76th year of the UN, and the previous election took place in 2016. Before that, all the elections were almost like selecting the Pope. It was a very closed door, hush hush elections. You don't even know who the candidates are. Then in 2015 fall, they passed a resolution called 69-321. It did not prohibit self-nomination and that was my guiding factor,” Arora explains.
“Here we are where member states are behaving in a discriminatory fashion where they are not following the rules that they have established themselves. I am allowed to be self-nominated, but member states are not giving me a hearing. All these leaders keep saying 'women empowerment', but what women? I don't know what kind of contest this is? Is this a contest on competence or their preferences about women?”
'Lack of Gender Diversity'
The UN has never had a female Secretary General in its 76 year history. Arora says, “In 2016 Secretary General elections, there were seven female candidates out of a pool of 13 candidates. All those women had similar experiences and age as the incumbent; yet a male was chosen for the job. So this year, I have presented myself as a candidate, who is less than half the age of the incumbent has different but relevant experiences, and again they have a problem.”
Same is the case with youths. Where is the representation? She asks. “UK got its presidency of the Security Council in February, and the ambassador is 'Youth is at the core of all our policies'. Where is that core? Because then, why aren't you engaging with the youth? It's not in action at all. Half of the world today is under 30 and yet I am not being given the respect of a candidate by a member state. There is a process they won't honour.”
The UN process requires candidates to be backed by a country to be recognised. When asked how many countries have extended intentions to back her, Arora says, “I emailed all member states, only seven countries responded. None of which are developed.”
'Refugee crisis'
Arora launched her Vision Statement earlier this month. The ongoing refugee crisis is one she holds near to her heart. “Today we have 85 million refugees displaced and stateless. This is the highest it has ever been. The UN says it cannot meet the needs of half of them because they say they have a $400 million funding shortfall. What do you think happens to the other half? They are smuggled, trafficked or taken to join terrorist organisations for sustenance or survival. You don't have the media to tell their stories. Meanwhile, it is interesting that the UN's annual travel budget is $2.5 billion dollars – including business and first class travels. How are you telling me you cannot fund refugees?”
President of the General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir held a dialogue with candidates on May 7, only including Guterres. To Arora there seems to be an intention to bypass the process and she says, “UK is just standing by.”
What makes her the ideal candidate?
The 34 year old says, “UK cut funding to the UN recently. The UK cut 50 per cent funding to UNICEF, it cut 80 per cent funding to the UNFPA. Which means, my experiences at the UN are so relevant for the SG that the limited resources we have now are used for the cause. Today for every dollar, 30 cents are used for the cause. Rest goes into bureaucracy. When it comes to climate, for every dollar only 15 cents goes to nature-based solutions, the rest goes to holding conferences. All this noise people are making on climate change. They made us believe in science, I now want people to believe in math.”
Asked to share her message with everyone, Arora says, “I am outraged at the lack of democracy that is going on. You should be too. Let's not just stop at the outrage. Let's take it to action. Tomorrow it could be you.”
