WE SUPPORT CAROLYN RODRIGUES BIRKETT FOR UN SG

Director General Jerusa Ali, Minister Fred Mitchell with Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett at the Commonwealth Small States office in New York on 21 September 2026

The CARICOM part of the GRULAC region in the United Nations, this includes the Caribbean states and the Latin American states, have nominated the former Foreign Minister of Guyana Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett as their choice to succeed the current Secretary General of the United Nations who retires and is term limited at the end of December in this year. She is an excellent choice and all heads of CARICOM have endorsed her save Antigua and Barbuda who had earlier nominated another candidate. Since her nomination, there have been three straw polls at the United Nations to determine the level of support and Mrs. Birkett has triumphed twice and come second the last of the three times. There is another straw poll in October. There is the suggestion that this poll should take place with coloured ballots for the Permanent Five members of the Security Council. This will determine if any of the Permanent Five object to the choice of any of the candidates. During the general debate last week, the New York Times reported that the United States plans to veto Mrs. Birkett because she made statements that described what is happening in Gaza under Israeli occupation as genocide. No official word from the United States and some suggest this is the Israeli lobby at work trying to force the US to state their position rather than an actual U S positon. We wish Mrs. Birkett luck.