Michelle Bachelet

Michelle Bachelet is one of four women in a current field of six candidates to be seeking the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations in 2027.  In its eighty-year history , the United Nations has yet to appoint a woman to serve as Secretary-General. 

Bachelet is a native of Santiago, Chile. In the 1970s, she and members of her family experienced persecution under the military government, forcing them into exile, but Bachelet eventually returned to her home country, studying medicine at the University of Chile and pursuing a career in public health. She was appointed Chile’s Minister of Health in 2000, and in 2002 was named Minister of National Defense, the first woman to ever hold the position. 

If appointed UNSG, Bachelet will bring to the role executive experience, having served as President of Chile for two (nonconsecutive) terms. She has also held senior leadership roles at the UN, serving as Director of UN Women (2010–13) and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2018–22). Her work has focused on human rights, gender equality, democratic governance, and humanitarian protections, particularly for victims of political persecution and torture. As UNSG, she says she will support UN reform and the promotion of multilateral cooperation to strengthen international responses to humanitarian crises, inequality, and conflict prevention.