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NORTH AmERIcAN Newsline MARCH 26, 2021 | The Indian Eye 30

InterVIew of the weeK

“my candidacy is bringing a renewed

sense of purpose to the united nations”

Q&A with Akanksha Arora, candidate for UN Secretary General

kanksha Arora, a na- than people serving.
tive of India and citizen You have been very critical of
Aof Canada, submitted a the way the UN is being run, even
formal letter of application for calling it ‘wasteful’. Do you real-
the role of United Nations Sec- ly expect any government to sup-
retary General for the 2022-27 port your candidature? Have you
term. The 34-year-old aims to approached any government for
replace current Secretary Gen- support?
eral Antonio Guterres, 71, vet- My criticism is founded in
eran Portuguese statesman as facts. The UN spends more than
well as former UN High Com- 50 billion dollars annually. Only
missioner for refugees. Aro- 30 cents of every dollar go to-
ra has worked at the UN for wards the actual cause. The rest
around four years as an auditor goes to bureaucracy. The UN
who was recruited from an ac- claims it cannot meet the needs
counting firm. of the 85 million refugees and
Arora was born in Haryana displaced people because of a
and spent her early years in funding gap of ~4 billion. How-
Saudi Arabia. Her parents, both ever, their annual travel budget,
doctors, had relocated there. such a step, which may seem au- Despite knowing all the which includes business and
She was in India from age 9 to dacious to some people? facts, no one is willing to do first-class travel, is $2.3 billion.
18 years, before she decided to Three specific events led to something about it. You can After the Haiti earthquake in
move to Canada. She graduat- my decision to run. First: Short- say I am a believer in the UN 2010, the UN sent peacekeep-
ed from York University and ly after I began working at the system, and I don’t want to give ers who brought cholera to the
worked for PricewaterhouseC- UN, I was struck by a taxicab up on it. Not now. Never. With country that killed 10,000 Hai-
oopers Canada as an auditing walking home in a snowstorm the right leadership, the UN tians. In 2016 it was established
manager. She was hired by the on Feb 9, 2017. I spent eight can fulfill its promise to the that the UN was required to pay
UN to help improve its internal hours in a New York City hospi- world and do tremendous work $400 million in compensation.
financial controls. It is then that tal emergency room, not know- worldwide that makes a differ- As of 2021, the UN has not yet
her admiration for the organi- ing if I would ever be able to ence in people’s lives. paid that amount.
zation turned to shock. walk again. With God’s grace, I Thirdly, when I went on my No country should accept
While working, she went made a full recovery. It was in first field mission trip to Ugan- that taxpayer dollars given to
back to school and attended those moments, being so close da, I saw a child eating mud on the UN are not used for the
Columbia University’s gradu- to death, that I vowed to myself the streets. This image of a child cause intended. I believe all
ate programme in public ad- that I would no longer put off eating mud is forever scarred in governments want a UN that
ministration. my desire to make a difference. my memory. But when I asked works and helps those in need.
Secondly, over the last few years, a senior UN leader if there was In my candidacy countries have
In an interview with the I have had countless discussions anything we could do, he re- a real alternative to choose
Indian eye, arora spoke with people at different levels plied, “mud has iron, and it’s someone who is a clean slate,
good for children.” The indif- has credibility, brings fresh
of the UN system - employees,
about her life, motto and member states, donors, senior ference and entitlement within ideas to the table and can ener-

campaign for the post of leadership, civil society - and the UN’s leadership towards gize the youth. I must say this
it’s no secret to anyone that the
the people they were supposed election is a test for me, but it’s
un chief. excerpts: UN is failing. The UN is the to serve (the most vulnera- a bigger test for the United Na-
world’s leading organization ble) left me speechless. I wish tions. The UN preaches gender
At the age of 34, with no diplo- for responding to the refugee I could say this was an isolated equality and youth inclusive-
matic experience, you are running crisis, managing and addressing example. I have continuously ness to all and now they have
for the post of UN Secretary-Gen- humanitarian emergencies, and observed that the UN’s leader- to show if they really mean it or
eral. What motivated you to take developing nations. ship team is more self-serving Continued on next page... >>

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