Bangladeshi diplomat Rabab Fatima appointed head of UN mission in Afghanistan

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed senior Bangladeshi diplomat Rabab Fatima as his new Special Representative for Afghanistan and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Fatima, who currently serves as Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS), succeeds Roza Otunbayeva of Kyrgyzstan. She brings over 30 years of experience in national and international civil service, including serving as Bangladesh's Permanent Representative to the UN from 2019 to 2022. During her tenure, she served as President of the UNICEF Executive Board in 2020 and the UN-Women Executive Board in 2022, and became the first woman elected Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission in 2022. Fatima also served as Bangladesh's ambassador to Japan from 2016 to 2019 and held diplomatic assignments in New York, Geneva, Beijing, and Kolkata. She holds a master's degree in international relations and diplomacy from Tufts University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Canberra.