United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Bangladeshi diplomat Rabab Fatima as the new head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and as his Special Representative. The announcement was made in a statement from the UN spokesperson’s office on Wednesday. Fatima will succeed Roza Otunbayeva of Kyrgyzstan, who was thanked by the Secretary-General for her dedicated service. He also expressed appreciation to Canada’s Georgette Gagnon, who had been serving as acting head.

According to the statement, Rabab Fatima currently serves as UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States. She has over 30 years of experience in national and international service, including work in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, policy formulation, advocacy, and program implementation.

Before her current role, Fatima was 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, became the first woman to chair the Peacebuilding Commission in 2022, and served as a vice-president of the 77th UN General Assembly.