Rights groups oppose UAE's Lana Nusseibeh as UN secretary-general over Sudan claims

Several human rights organisations on Tuesday urged countries to reject Lana Nusseibeh, an official of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as a candidate for secretary-general of the United Nations. Their objections centre on allegations that the UAE finances paramilitary forces in Sudan, which the Emirates deny. If chosen, the 48-year-old Nusseibeh would become the first woman and only the second Arab to lead the UN.

Criticism from rights groups

Sudan has been in a war since 2023 between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The UAE stands accused of funding the RSF. Ken Roth, head of Human Rights Watch, told journalists that Nusseibeh is "utterly inappropriate" as a candidate. In his words, she has repeatedly been asked about the UAE's role in arming and supporting the RSF and denies it without regard to the facts.

Kate Ferguson, co-director of the British NGO Protection Approaches, said that as far as she had seen there was not sufficient evidence the candidate is independent from her home state. Candidates for the post are expected to be independent of their home governments, as they would lead an international body.

Nusseibeh's response

On Tuesday Nusseibeh said she had taken a leave of absence from her post as a UAE minister in order to respect the obligations of independence the role requires. She called the conflict in Sudan the litmus test of an incoming secretary-general's success. She described the RSF's atrocities as atrocious, said she would support all UN fact-finding missions for accountability and transitional justice, and added that the first thing the organisation must do is stop the conflict.

The candidate and the process

Nusseibeh is a seasoned diplomat who served as the UAE's permanent representative to the UN from 2013 to 2024, the first woman in that role. Since her official nomination last week she has won the backing of Gulf states, but has also faced scrutiny over the UAE's normalisation of relations with Israel.

To win, a candidate must secure nine of the 15 votes on the Security Council and avoid a veto from any of its five permanent members: the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia. Nusseibeh comes from a prominent Palestinian family of statesmen that was uprooted by the creation of Israel in 1948.