00:00Our correspondent Lee Jan Hoa has been speaking to another candidate.
00:04If successful, Caroline Rodriguez-Burkitt would become the first Caribbean head of the United Nations.
00:11The UN was not built for easy times.
00:15It came after very difficult times, after World War II.
00:19And so it was established to deal with global challenges.
00:23And as we look at the three pillars of the UN, whether it is on the peace and security pillar,
00:30on the development pillar, or the human rights pillar, in setting my priorities, I've situated them along the pillars, looking
00:39at how we can work harder to prevent and to end conflicts.
00:44And on the development side, as you are well aware, we are not close to achieving the sustainable development goals.
00:52And the term of the Secretary General will see the member states looking at the post-2030 agenda.
01:00And I also believe that while we must put human rights at the center of everything we do in the
01:07UN, if we're able to have more peace and security, more development,
01:11we will be able to have more dividends and human rights as well.
01:15You have described your approach as pragmatic, yet the principles.
01:18But what happens when pragmatism and the principle point in different directions?
01:23What would you do?
01:26Pragmatism and principle do not have to be mutually exclusive.
01:32For me, when I speak about pragmatism, I'm speaking about being sensible, being practical, looking for what works.
01:42And if by chance you have a situation where pragmatism and principle will diverge, the Secretary General must turn to
01:51the UN Charter and to international law.
01:54And you spent two years representing Guyana as the Security Council.
01:57Was there any moments that really convinced you that the UN needs to change? And now?
02:03The Security Council is empowered by the Charter to act.
02:07And there were times when I thought that the Security Council could have done more.
02:12And how about Gaza and West Bank?
02:15And what do you think that you would do if you are appointed as the UN Secretary General to deal
02:21with the humanitarian crises?
02:25Well, first of all, what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank, as we know, is linked to the
02:32larger situation of moving to a two-state solution.
02:36There are many resolutions of the UN, both the General Assembly and the Security Council.
02:42And whatever the Secretary General is required to do must be guided by those resolutions.
02:49I think the question is, what would you do differently?
02:52My understanding is that we have had some improvements, let's say, compared to nine months ago or ten months ago,
02:59but the situation is still very dire.
03:01So I would want to do an assessment, to talk with all who are working on this, to make sure
03:07that whatever we do is to improve the situation and not to make it worse.
03:12And lastly, what would you hope to achieve at the end of your tenure if you're appointed?
03:20It's a little bit presumptuous to think about legacy and my tenure, but whether it is me as Secretary General
03:27or someone else as Secretary General,
03:30I would like to see in the next, at the end of the next five years, five things.
03:34I would like to see that the reforms that the UN is engaged in right now would have yielded results
03:41on the ground in particular.
03:43I would also like to see that some of the conflicts that we have right now have ended and that
03:48also where there were conflicts that were brewing, that we would have prevented them as well.
03:53On the development side, I would like to see that we made progress with the IFIs and that the needle
04:01has moved in terms of access to finance, but also in terms of private sector investment.
04:07Of course, I would like to see the human rights situation improved as well.
04:12And I would also like to see that the question on whether a woman can lead the UN was answered
04:23resoundingly and affirmatively.
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