The Philippines joins others in thanking Mr. Courtney Rattray, Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary-General, and the office of the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources, for their briefing on the Senior Leadership Talent Pool, the Senior Leadership Vacancies portal, and other measures being undertaken to bring greater transparency and accessibility to the selection and appointment of executive heads and senior management of the UN system.
The Philippines reiterates its view that the UN Secretary-General must be accorded independence in the selection of UN senior officials, in accordance with the highest standards of excellence, competence and integrity and guided by the principles of transparency and inclusiveness. In this regard, we appreciate the assurance made today by the Chef de Cabinet that the Secretary-General exercises this discretionary authority with care.
Efforts and progress already made by the Secretary-General towards achieving equal and fair distribution in terms of the gender and geographical balance of the executive heads and senior management of the United Nations system should be continued, while securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity.
We support the request of the Secretary-General for Member States to nominate qualified and competent nationals who may be considered for positions of executive heads and senior management of the Secretariat and we also note the creation of the Senior Leadership Talent Pool in that endeavor. We note the observation made by the Permanent Representative of Cameroon today on the equitable geographical distribution of senior management members, in accordance with the UN Charter.
Finally, a well-balanced group of executive heads and senior management team, selected on the basis of competence, integrity, excellence, and gender and geographical balance, will play important responsibilities in assisting the Secretary-General and the organization in dealing with current global challenges and in the implementation of the three pillars of the United Nations, namely, peace and security, human rights and sustainable development.