For the first time in history, a woman could become the UN chief with UNESCO head Irina Bokova and Vice-President of the European Commission Kristalina Georgieva, both Bulgarian, as possible candidates.
"My view is that the next Secretary General of the United Nations will be from Eastern Europe," Kevin Rudd, who was previously reported to be a contender for the job, said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
He added that whoever will become the UN secretary-general, the international community during his term will be tasked with reforming the global system for refugees and asylum seekers.
Burden Sharing in Global Refugee System
International system of handling refugees needs to become truly global to address challenges represented by the massive exodus of people trying to find shelter from poverty and violence of their home countries abroad, the Australia's prime minister said.
"You need a fundamental reform of global system for handling asylum seekers and refugees, so that there is global support and global burden sharing. Global support politically, legally, financially and in terms of the distribution of places."
He added that the current system was in place since 1951 and had virtually collapsed since the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and his office "neither has the capacity, the resources, nor the global support" to handle such flows of people.
Among the elements suggested by the former Australian official are provision of the necessary financial support to the countries bordering those experiencing exodus, a global system of reception processing and transit centers for refugees and global refugee burden sharing system with working relocation mechanism.
He stressed Australia's wide experience in dealing with the migrants.
"We are one of ten biggest migration countries in the world in terms of number of people who come to Australia each year. Each year we provide a quota for the UNHCR for refugees of somewhat between 10,000 and 20,000 people and they come to Australia from the worst places in the world," Rudd said adding that local migration system handles the issue in the "orderly fashion."
