Arora Akanksha, an Indian-origin employee at the United Nations (UN) has announced her candidacy to be the Secretary-General even as incumbent Antonio Guterres is seeking a second five-year term as chief of the UN. His first term ends on December 31 this year and the term of the next Secretary-General will begin on January 1, 2022.
#AroraForSG campaign
The 34-year-old audit coordinator for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said she will run for the post of the world's top diplomat and launched her campaign #AroraForSG this month.
"People in my position aren't supposed to stand up to the ones in charge. We are supposed to wait our turn, hop on the hamster wheel, go to work, keep our heads down and accept that the world is the way it is," Akanksha said in a two-and-a-half-minute campaign video that she posted online.
"For 75 years, the UN has not fulfilled its promise to the world - refugees haven't been protected, humanitarian aid has been minimal, and technology and innovation has been on the back-burner. We deserve a UN that leads progress," she says.
"That is why I am running for the Secretary-General of the United Nations. I refuse to be a by-stander. I will not accept this is the best the UN can do," she says in the video.
"It is time for a new United Nation - a UN that is a guardian for refugees, takes humanitarian crises through to completion and gets technology and education in the hands of all," she says.
Not an impossible idea
"It takes someone being bold, being a first - first to speak up, first to take action, first to make a difference and now first to challenge the UN. I'm no longer waiting for the torch to be passed down, I'm taking it because I am part of the generation of change where we don't just talk about change, we cause change," she says.
She also says that these ideas are not impossible and don't need another 75 years to accomplish. She also thanked supporters on Twitter and urged them to vote.
(With agency inputs)