United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Rabab Fatima of Bangladesh as his new Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
Fatima replaces Roza Otunbayeva of Kyrgyzstan, who has been serving as the UN envoy for Afghanistan. Guterres expressed appreciation for Otunbayeva’s dedicated service and also thanked Georgette Gagnon of Canada, the current Officer-in-Charge of UNAMA.
According to a UN statement, Fatima brings more than 30 years of experience in national and international civil service, including bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, policymaking, advocacy, programme planning and implementation.
She is currently serving as Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS).
Before taking up the UN-OHRLLS position, Fatima served as Bangladesh’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from 2019 to 2022.
During that period, she headed the executive boards of UNICEF and UN Women and served as vice-president of the UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS Executive Board.
The UN said Fatima became the first woman to chair the Peacebuilding Commission in 2022 and also served as vice-president of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly.
A career diplomat, Fatima previously served as Bangladesh’s ambassador to Japan and held senior positions at the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has also served in Bangladesh missions in New York, Geneva, Beijing and Kolkata.
She has held several positions with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), including Regional Representative for South Asia and adviser on climate change and migration. She also served as head of human rights at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.
Fatima holds a master’s degree in international relations and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the United States, and a bachelor’s degree in social science from the University of Canberra, Australia.
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