Guterres officially appointed UN secretary-general

The UN General Assembly yesterday unanimously voted to appointment Portugal’s Antonio Guterres as UN secretary-general for five years as of 1 January 2017.

Guterres, 67, was nominated by the 15 Security Council members last week to replace Ban Ki-moon, whose term ends on 31 December.

In addition to serving as Portuguese prime minister from 1995 to 2002, Guterres led the UN refugee agency, UNCHR, for 10 years from 2005 to 2015.

Guterres’s appointment disappointed those who were hoping a woman would be appointed as head of the international organisation for the first time, as well as those who were hoping that the next secretary-general would be from one of the Eastern European countries.