THE President, Mrs Robinson, has been suggested for the post of UN secretary general by a New York based women's rights organisation, Equality Now.
The group, which named President Robinson along with five other women, launched an international campaign at the weekend to press for the selection of a woman as the next UN leader.
"Mrs Robinson is clearly a person who has a lot of political experience and has taken a tremendous interest in the UN," said Ms Jackie Hunt, a member of the board of directors of Equality Now.
"She has a lot of ideas about reform of the UN, she is committed, and we think she would be an excellent candidate because she is active on peace and human rights - all the things the UN needs help with," she added.
Ms Hunt described Equality Now as an international human rights group dedicated to the protection of women's rights.
President Robinson told the Washington Post in June she could not "decline to accept an offer were one to materialise".
According to Ms Hunt, the move to replace Boutros Boutros Ghali as head of the UN, despite his announcement that he is seeking a second term, came as a result of the action adopted by governments at the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing last year.
"Many of the standards adopted by governments at the conference have not been implemented," said Ms Hunt. "One of those was the under representation of women in the UN secretariat."
"Now only six months later we have an opportunity for governments to honour that commitment by looking at a woman for the post," she added.
While Ms Hunt said Equality Now's campaign was not a drive to unseat Boutros Ghali, he initially said he would serve only one term.
Equality Now was formed in 1992 and claims to have 2,000 members in 75 countries. "We are calling on them to campaign with their own governments and the 15 members of the Security Council which will recommend who the next secretary general will be," said Ms Hunt.
"We listed six women we believe to be highly qualified, and there has been a tremendous reaction which I hope will translate into action."
The other women listed are: Ms Gro Ilarlem Brundtland, the Norwegian prime minister; Ms Frena Ginwala, speaker of the South African parliament; Ms Sadako Ogata, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees; Ms Navanethem Pillai, a South African judge on the Rwanda war crimes tribunal; and Ms Loticia Shahanl, President of the Filipino Senate.