Helen Clark CSIS presentation

Rt Hon Helen Clark, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Candidate for United Nations Secretary-General presentation to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies Statesmen’s Forum

Washington DC, 3-4 pm, 13 July 2016.

Prepared remarks. Watch the discussion here.

On 9 April 1953, the first Secretary-General of the United Nations, Norwegian Trygve Lie, met his successor, Dag Hammarskjöld, at a New York airport, and told him that he was about to take over “the world’s most impossible job”.

Today’s complex and interconnected world makes the role of UN Secretary-General no less challenging – if anything it is more challenging. Therefore it is positive that there is strong competition to lead the world’s premier multilateral organisation, and that the selection process has unfolded in a more transparent way.

As a candidate for the post, I am delighted to engage with this distinguished audience. Your perspectives on the role of the United Nations, how you see it needing to evolve to meet the demands of today’s world, and what you see as priorities for the next Secretary-General are of great interest to me.

But, first, let me say something about myself, and about what motivates me to step forward as a candidate, the challenges I see facing the United Nations, and the priorities I would set myself as Secretary-General.

Before becoming Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in 2009, I served for nine years as New Zealand Prime Minister. This was the culmination of a 27 year parliamentary career. Our electoral system generally produces coalition and/or minority governments. Therefore as Prime Minister, I honed my skills at bringing people together and bridging differences. That also goes with being a New Zealand leader in the Asia Pacific region where there is huge diversity, not least in political systems. These are vital skills for a Secretary-General to have.

I have had a deep interest in international affairs since my student days when I was active in the anti-apartheid movement. I am as strongly motivated today as I was then to work for a better and fairer world, and to do so now as UN Secretary-General. I am honoured to have the full, active, and official support of the New Zealand Government for my candidacy.

I have entered the selection process acutely aware that the United Nations must step up its performance. Put simply, I worry for its future. I see a real risk that the UN could drift to the periphery of world affairs when it is most needed - at this time of disruptive global change. This is the very time when “we the peoples of the United Nations” – as the Charter describes the membership – need to have confidence in the UN’s capacity to help resolve the world’s many problems.

This is therefore a time for a Secretary-General who comes to the post with global standing and political experience, and who can ensure that the United Nations is considered a valuable partner by the world’s current and emerging powers. At the same time, the Secretary-General must also understand and have empathy with the world’s many small states which look to the United Nations to protect their rights and interests. Coming from a small country in the South Pacific with many Small Island Developing States as its neighbours, this comes naturally to me.

Let me outline why I believe my credentials are unique and best suited for the post. I have a combination of high level political leadership as a long serving Prime Minister and regional leader, and multilateral experience heading the development arm of the UN over these past seven years. This has given me global profile. I have a deep understanding of development and of the issues facing the developing world. No other candidate can match the engagement I have had with Africa which is the subject of more than half the Security Council’s business. But my work at UNDP has seen me very close to the work of the whole UN in all development settings – from the most fragile to the most stable – across all regions.

As UNDP Administrator, I am acutely aware of the strengths and flaws of the UN system. I have taken steps to lift the performance of UNDP significantly, and have seen it ranked as the most transparent aid organisation in the world over the past two years. There will be no time for an apprenticeship when the next Secretary-General takes over in January. The new SG must be one hundred per cent competent and in the driver’s seat from day one.

I bring with me my strong personal commitment to get the job done. I have the experience, the enthusiasm, and the energy to drive for the UN’s continued modernisation and renewed relevance. I want to use all my talents and my skills as a communicator to rebuild the image of the UN globally.

As Secretary-General, I would set myself clear priorities for strengthening the UN and its ability to respond quickly and effectively to what Member States need. As I have travelled around the capitals of current Security Council members in recent weeks, I have found a good measure of agreement on what the priorities should be.

Two top priorities would be to strengthen peacekeeping and conflict prevention, and to lead on the sustainable development agenda. The two are connected; let me elaborate.

In a very welcome initiative last year, President Obama led a drive to encourage more member states to contribute peacekeepers to the UN. We definitely need to expand the numbers of troop contributing countries, and to ensure that those troops are uniformly well trained and well supported in the field. There is outstanding work to do on this, arising from the recommendations of the High Level Panel on Peacekeeping Operations appointed by the Secretary-General, and a number of Member States are making other valuable recommendations to me in this area as well.

The need to commit peacekeepers, however, is a sign that the UN has failed in its role of conflict prevention. I would look for new ways to strengthen the organisation’s preventive capacity, including through better use of early warning systems and mediation, drawing on the resources of the UN’s extensive country presence and on the knowledge and capacities of regional organisations, neighbours, and civil society.

In doing this, I believe I can develop and proactively use the “good offices” role of the Secretary-General. There are no precise instructions on how to do that. It is up to the international experience, the leadership and diplomatic skills, and the judgement of the incumbent. As one UN ambassador put it to me, “the world needs a Secretary-General who can pick up the phone like a head of state, acting with gravitas and power”. This is something I can do. I have done it for years as a leader.

Fundamentally though, in the words of the new global agenda, Agenda 2030, we will not have peace without sustainable development, nor will we have sustainable development without peace. We need sustained efforts to build inclusive, fair, and sustainable societies with strong institutions which can mediate their differences, not fight them out. These are the conditions for durable peace – and getting them in place and addressing the root causes of conflict are neither short term nor simple endeavours.

Nonetheless, we have to keep at it, or face the grim consequences - which are sadly the status quo of protracted conflicts, forced displacement, and more. We need to think and act holistically across the UN’s development, humanitarian, human rights, political, and peacekeeping pillars. I would take it as a personal responsibility to see these well co-ordinated in the interests of building a better world. We need to fight today’s security challenges arising from the breakdown of social cohesion, civil wars, terrorism, and violent extremism with co-ordinated and 21st century tools which, to paraphrase Aristotle, see the whole of our efforts add up to more than the sum of their parts.

A third priority would be organisational efficiency – accelerating the modernisation of administrative and budgetary systems and human resource management. I would take personal responsibility for careful scrutiny of budgets. The reorganisation I led at UNDP reduced administrative costs and increased funds for development. Member States deserve to know that every dollar they contribute is spent wisely. The United States takes a very strong interest in how to improve organisational efficiency and value for money at the UN, and I am listening closely to its views and those of others who want to see better performance.

The “world’s most impossible job” awaiting the next Secretary-General has many dimensions. I have scarcely mentioned here today the unresolved problems of the Middle East which gnaw at our global conscience; the raging conflicts in Syria and elsewhere; the need to eradicate extreme poverty and tackle climate change decisively; the list is long.

Before I hand over to you for questions, let me say a word on the long standing friendship of my country with the United States. Our two countries are among the half dozen worldwide which maintained democratic governance throughout the twentieth century. My grandparents’ and parents’ generations were deeply grateful for a decision President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took during the Second World War. Most of New Zealand’s armed forces were in the Middle East when the fall of Singapore in January 1942 left the South Pacific exposed. FDR pledged that the United States would come to New Zealand’s defence and that of Australia. As in World War One, the United States entry into the war proved decisive.

In my own time as Prime Minister, I was privileged to be welcomed to the White House on two occasions by President George W. Bush, and to meet him regularly at Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summits. New Zealand was an early mover in despatching special-forces to Afghanistan after 9/11, and in establishing a Provincial Reconstruction Team in that country. As UNDP Administrator, I have been greatly supported by the United States’ contributions to our work and willingness to see UNDP as a key partner.

If I am honoured to be selected as the next Secretary-General, I would bring with me a legacy of friendship for the United States, and of understanding the vital role it plays in supporting the UN Charter’s mandate on peace and security, development, and human rights.

Thank you once again for the opportunity to engage with all distinguished participants here today.

[ENDS]

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