UN 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), the UN announced on Wednesday.
Fatima succeeds Roza Otunbayeva of Kyrgyzstan, who has led the UN mission in Afghanistan since 2022. Guterres thanked Otunbayeva for her service and also expressed appreciation to Georgette Gagnon of Canada, UNAMA’s deputy special representative, who has been serving as the mission’s acting head.
Fatima brings more than 30 years of experience in diplomacy, international development and multilateral affairs. She currently serves as the UN’s Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS).
Before joining the UN Secretariat, Fatima served as Bangladesh’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York from 2019 to 2022. During that time, she chaired the executive boards of UNICEF and UN Women and became the first woman elected to lead the UN Peacebuilding Commission.
Her diplomatic career has also included postings as Bangladesh’s ambassador to Japan, senior roles in the country’s Foreign Ministry and assignments with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Commonwealth Secretariat, where she worked on migration, climate change and human rights.
Fatima holds a master’s degree in international relations and diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University in the United States and a bachelor’s degree in social science from the University of Canberra in Australia.
UNAMA was established in 2002 to support peace, political dialogue, humanitarian coordination and human rights in Afghanistan. Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, the mission has played a central role in coordinating UN assistance and engaging with Afghanistan’s de facto authorities on issues including humanitarian aid, human rights and the rights of women and girls.
Fatima is expected to assume leadership of the mission at a time when Afghanistan continues to face a humanitarian crisis, international sanctions and ongoing restrictions on women and girls under Taliban rule.
