Is UN Relevant For Millennials? Arora Akanksha UN Secretary-General Aspirant Talks To Us

Arora Akanksha UN Secretary-General Aspirant Talks to SheThePeople: Arora Akanksha is an Indo-Canadian audit coordinator for the United Nations Development Program. She is now running for the post of UN Secretary-General, and  announced her candidacy for the same in February 2021.

The 34-year-old is the first woman of Indian origin running for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations General Assembly. In 75 years of its being no woman has ever served as the Secretary-General of the United Nations General Assembly. During the last selection in 2016, a record number of women had filed nominations. Arora in her campaign has said, "People in my position aren't supposed to stand up to the ones' in-charge." She believes women inherently don't like war hence are better suited to head an organisation that has its mission as peacekeeping.

SheThePeople got in touch with the UN General-Secretary aspirant and spoke about her mission and why the UN needs to become relevant for the millennials. Read on to know more.

SheThePeople: Is the UN relevant for the millennial generation? If not, what needs to be done in order to make it so? 

Akanksha: First of all, the United Nations has many decision-making bodies such as the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Commission. Their decisions are then passed on to the UN Secretary-General, and the secretariat and the agencies who will implement those decisions. That is where we are failing. We fight and pass resolutions but we are unable to implement them and see the results which are supposed to be. That is why the people are disillusioned, they are like all these people only come and talk but I don't see any difference in my life.

Beyond Donation And Advocacy 

For the millennials to really get involved with the United Nations, we need to open opportunities that go beyond donation and advocacy. The option for donation isn't viable for the millennials as they are at a stage where they are making their careers. They are trying to stand up on their own feet, and are busy in clearing their education bills, house bills, etc.

Millennials also can't go on advocating for various causes for long. This is an impatient generation that just wants to do things, get hands-on experience, and results. So the options of donation and advocacy is not relevant for them.

"Will Get The Youth Involved" 

Under my candidacy, I aim to get the youth involved beyond donation and advocacy. They can be a part of a humanitarian crisis solution providing. For example, when there is a humanitarian crisis which isn't conflict related and is a natural disaster, we would really want the youth to get involved. The youth can also get involved in a society rebuilding program that can help the community and people engage with each other, learn about their differences and embrace them. This is especially important with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns which has led us to believe that it is okay to be internal. We do need a break from this, and I am sure that such programs will be valuable for them.

You can watch our interview with Akanksha Arora here:

Arora would not be a bystander if she becomes the UN Secretary-General and acknowledged that the UN needs change. The 34-year-old has released a video in which she mentions that the UN has failed to fulfill its promise to the world for the last 75 years. "Refugees haven't been protected, humanitarian aid have been minimal, and technology and innovation has been on the backburner," she says.

Arora Akanksha is ambitious enough to compete against the current UN Secretary-General António Guterres who has a chance to get selected for a second term as well. Although she hasn't got any support from any country for her candidacy, it hasn't deterred her  from taking on the 193-member organisation.