Bangladeshi diplomat Rabab Fatima has been chosen by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres to serve as his Special Representative for Afghanistan and the new leader of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

According to an official media release from the UN Headquarters on Wednesday (July 15), Fatima takes over from Kyrgyzstan's Roza Otunbayeva, with the Secretary-General extending his deep appreciation to the outgoing chief for her devoted efforts.

The UN Chief also acknowledged Canada's Georgette Gagnon, the current Officer-in-Charge and Deputy Special Representative of UNAMA, thanking her for steering the mission during the transition.

Fatima transitions into this high-profile deployment backed by more than three decades of expert engagement across domestic and global civil service roles.

Her professional legacy covers comprehensive bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, strategic policymaking, active public advocacy, and programmatic design and execution.

At present, she holds the rank of UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS).

Her distinguished career previously saw her stationed in New York as the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations from 2019 to 2022.

During that assignment, she held key global leadership positions, including President of the UNICEF Executive Board in 2020 and President of the UN-Women Executive Board in 2022.

She also acted as the Vice-President for the UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS Executive Board in 2021.

Notably, in 2022, she made history as the inaugural female diplomat elected to lead the UN Peacebuilding Commission as its Chair, while concurrently fulfilling duties as a Vice-President for the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

As a career diplomat for her home nation, Fatima served as the Bangladeshi Ambassador to Japan between 2016 and 2019, following a stint as the Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangladesh from 2015 to 2016.

Her broader history with the country's foreign service includes numerous assignments in various capacities within the home ministry and across overseas missions located in Beijing, Geneva, New York, and Kolkata.

Her footprint in global governance also features extensive work with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), where she operated as the Regional Representative for South Asia from 2007 to 2011 and later as the Regional Adviser for South and South-West Asia alongside a secondary portfolio as Regional Adviser for Climate Change and Migration from 2012 to 2015.

Additionally, she managed global rights portfolios in London from 2006 to 2007 as the Head of Human Rights at the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Academic credentials for the newly appointed envoy include a master’s degree in international relations and diplomacy earned from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the United States, which followed a bachelor’s degree in social science from the University of Canberra in Australia.

A multilingual public servant, Fatima speaks English fluently alongside her native Bangla, and possesses a working understanding of Hindi and Urdu.