The Kabul Tribune (KT)-- Rabab Fatima has assumed her duties as the United Nations secretary-general’s special representative for Afghanistan and head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the mission said in a statement.
Fatima brings more than 30 years of experience in national and international public service, with expertise in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, policymaking, advocacy, and program planning and implementation.
Before her appointment, she served as under-secretary-general and high representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States at the U.N. Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.
She previously served as Bangladesh’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in New York from 2019 to 2022. During that period, she was president of the executive boards of UNICEF in 2020 and U.N. Women in 2022, and vice president of the U.N. Development Program, U.N. Population Fund and U.N. Office for Project Services executive board in 2021.
In 2022, Fatima became the first woman elected chair of the U.N. Peacebuilding Commission. She also served as a vice president of the 77th session of the U.N. General Assembly.
A career diplomat, Fatima served as Bangladesh’s ambassador to Japan from 2016 to 2019 and as director general at the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2015 to 2016. She also held various diplomatic positions at Bangladesh’s missions in New York, Geneva, Beijing and Kolkata.
From 2012 to 2015, she worked with the International Organization for Migration as regional adviser for South and Southwest Asia and regional adviser for climate change and migration. She previously served as the organization’s regional representative for South Asia from 2007 to 2011.
Earlier in her career, Fatima headed the human rights division at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London from 2006 to 2007.
She 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 in Australia.
In addition to her native Bangla, Fatima speaks English and has a working knowledge of Hindi and Urdu.
