Human rights defenders are sounding the alarm over the United Arab Emirates’ nomination of its former envoy Lana Nusseibeh to be the next UN Secretary General. They say electing a diplomat from the UAE, a country with a questionable human rights record that is accused of backing forces behind a massacre in Sudan, could spell “catastrophe” for the UN.
The United Arab Emirates has nominated Lana Nusseibeh for United Nations secretary-general, according to a report from the state-owned Emirates News Agency. Nusseibeh, the minister of state in the UAE's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and her country’s first female ambassador to the UN, has been rumoured to be a potential candidate for months. She joins six other candidates vying to be the UN's next top diplomat.
