Who is Rebeca Grynspan, the Jewish Costa Rican running to head the UN?

NEW YORK — Last month, Rebeca Grynspan sat at the front of the United Nations’ soaring General Assembly Hall, before scores of diplomats, pitching her candidacy to become the global body’s next leader, one of the world’s most prominent positions.

“Peace is what made it possible for my parents, two refugees from the Second World War, to find respect and dignity in a small country, Costa Rica,” she said in her opening remarks. “I am the daughter of this peace, a demonstration of what peace makes possible.”

Those refugee parents were Jews fleeing persecution in Europe, and their daughter, one of four candidates to become the next UN secretary-general, if selected, would be the first Jew and the first woman to hold the post.

Grynspan has a track record with leading Jewish organizations, family in Israel, and is a source of pride for Costa Rica’s small Jewish community, but is also an insider at the UN, long a leading source of anti-Israel animus on the world stage, and her office has produced reports critical of the Jewish state during her tenure at the UN.

From Jewish refugees to Costa Rican politics

Grynspan’s parents were Polish Jews who fled to Russia, separately, in 1936, fearing Nazi expansion, she said in a 2022 interview for a UN podcast. Grynspan’s office said she was not immediately available for an interview.

Her father arrived in Russia with most of his family, while her mother fled Poland with her two sisters.

“She left her parents behind and they were killed during the Holocaust. They never saw them again,” Grynspan said.

After the war, her parents landed in displaced persons camps. Most of the world was closed to Jewish refugees and both of Grynspan’s parents attempted to reach British Mandatory Palestine. The British were blocking Jewish immigration, though, and during her parents’ “illegal journey,” the British detained and sequestered them on Cyprus, Grynspan said.

“They met in Cyprus and fell in love. They came to Costa Rica already married,” she said.

Grynspan was born in 1955. Her family ran a small store in rural Costa Rica, then moved to the capital, San Jose, where they set up a textile factory. Her parents focused on education for Grynspan and her two sisters.

The family history is central to Grysnpan’s personal narrative, as a first-generation Costa Rican who became a vice president.

“I know what it means to get to a country that respects human rights and where you can make your living in a decent way,” she said in the 2022 interview.

Grynspan has a record of engaging with leading Jewish groups.

She was a keynote speaker at a B’nai B’rith Uruguay event in 2017, on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, where she spoke against Holocaust denial.

A spokesperson for the World Jewish Congress said the group has a longstanding relationship with Grynspan and that the two sides meet regularly.

Grynspan’s sister moved to Israel as a teenager, and Grynspan’s niece and nephew served in the IDF, according to a 2014 article. A 2013 report said Grynspan had studied economics and sociology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and she spoke at an Israeli tech event in 2020.

Checkered record on Israel and candidacy for secretary-general

Grynspan studied economics at the University of Costa Rica and the University of Sussex, was an economics professor and researcher, and then entered public service, serving in several cabinet positions in Costa Rica’s government. She was a vice president of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998.

She moved to international affairs, heading the Ibero-American Conference and working for the UN Development Program, among other roles. In 2021, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed her head of the UN’s Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the first woman to lead the office.

UNCTAD helps developing countries integrate into the global economy through activities like research, promoting entrepreneurship and consumer protection. One of its focuses is the Palestinians.

Under Grynspan’s tenure, UNCTAD released a series of reports on economic conditions in the Palestinian territories that attributed Palestinian economic woes to Israel.

The West Bank’s inflation, infrastructure problems and limited resources are a “result of the occupation,” a report last year said, citing Israeli measures such as security barriers and Israel’s deductions from Palestinian Authority revenue for payments to terrorists. For Gaza, the report blamed “military operations and restrictions” for economic collapse.

The report briefly mentioned Hamas’s bloody October 7, 2023, onslaught and the terror group’s 2007 takeover of Gaza, but did not otherwise attribute any of the Palestinian economy’s troubles to the Palestinians. Hamas diverting resources to terror infrastructure, corruption and political stagnation in the Palestinian Authority, rejected offers for statehood, and security threats to Israel were not mentioned.

In her comments after the October 2023 Hamas atrocities, Grynspan echoed statements from Guterres, who has sparred with Israel over the war. Two weeks after the attack, Grynspan said she was “horrified by the tragic loss of life in Israel and Gaza.” Weeks later, she condemned Hamas, as well as the “continued bombardment of the IDF hitting civilians, hospitals, shelters, schools and UN facilities.” She called for a ceasefire, for “all parties to respect their obligations under international law,” the release of the hostages and aid to Gaza.

Horrified by the tragic loss of life in Israel & Gaza.

All civilians must be protected & we must work for peace in the region so people can have the future they want for themselves & their children.

Hatred, terrorism, violence & war are not the way. https://t.co/J4nZ3DfLfF

— Rebeca Grynspan (@RGrynspan) October 20, 2023

Grynspan’s other activities at UNCTAD included opposing US trade tariffs and helping navigate grain exports through the Black Sea during Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Costa Rica nominated Grynspan as a secretary-general candidate in March. The other candidates are Michelle Bachelet, the former president of Chile, Ecuadorian diplomat Maria Fernanda Espinosa, and Rafael Grossi, the Argentine head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The office informally cycles between the UN’s different regional groups, and Latin America and the Caribbean appear to be next in line; all the current candidates represent countries in the region. Guterres, who from Portugal represents Western Europe, leaves office at the start of 2027.

Member states and civil-society groups have pushed for a woman to finally head the world body.

During her dialogue with UN ambassadors last month, Grynspan called on the UN to “support the ceasefire” in Gaza and for UN humanitarian agencies to have “unrestricted access to Gaza.” Critics argue that the UN aid agency for the Palestinians, UNRWA, plays a role in perpetuating the conflict through its education system and fostering the Palestinian refugee narrative.

At the hearing and in other recent appearances, Grynspan has highlighted her family history as refugees, without mentioning their Jewish identity.

The Security Council is expected to recommend a candidate to the General Assembly later this year, and the candidate must win the approval of the five permanent members of the council — the US, Russia, Britain, China and France — any of whom can veto the selection.

The 10th secretary-general will head the organization during a period of turmoil due to international crises such as the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, financial shortfalls, eroding trust in the international system and clashes with the Trump administration.

The General Assembly condemns Israel more than any other country each year and is often an arena for anti-Israel politicking on the world stage. The secretary-general has limited power over the General Assembly, but is granted a platform for commenting on global affairs. Grynspan has not indicated she plans a change in direction on Middle East policies and rarely comments on Israel.

“I can lead this organization through these turbulent times, and to do so around three priorities: peace, reform, and future,” she said to the General Assembly last month. “Peacemaking is the purpose of this organization. It will be my first priority.”

‘Great pride for us’

Amir Grunhaus, a Jewish Costa Rican living in New York, said the Jewish community in Costa Rica is tight-knit, centered in San Jose and numbers around 2,500.

Most of the community, like Grynspan, are Ashkenazi Jews whose forebears fled from Poland, drawn by word of mouth to the country’s safety, stability and education, he said.

The Costa Rican government is firmly pro-Israel and “Jews are very involved in political life in Costa Rica,” Grunhaus said. Many young Jews are moving abroad for better economic opportunities, though. Grunhaus moved to New York six years ago, works at a law firm and is a pro-Israel activist.

Grunhaus was not closely familiar with Grynspan, noting that she had moved to the US decades ago, so was not a regular presence in Costa Rica’s Jewish community. Costa Rican Jews are tracking her candidacy and think well of her, though, he said.

“She was part of the community, and I’ve heard people in the community talk highly about her and about her work. They say she’s brilliant,” he said. “I heard a lot of community members talking about it and they know who she is and some of them are friends of hers.”

For her to lead the UN, taking on one of the world’s most prominent positions, “Would be a great pride for us,” he said.