Ambassador Rabab Fatima to lead UN Women Executive Board

Ambassador Rabab Fatima, Bangladesh's permanent representative to the United Nations, has been elected as the President of the UN Women Executive Board.

She will be leading the Executive Board in 2022, alongside Ambassador Kyslytsya of Ukraine and Ambassador Valtýsson of Iceland.

Rabab Fatima replaced Ambassador Fanday Turay, the new permanent representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations, at the election held virtually on Tuesday (11 January).

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UN Women Sima Bahous welcomed the newly elected bureau.

She said to Rabab Fatima, "I am confident that under the leadership of Her Excellency, Rabab Fatima as President of the Executive Board will take UN Women into its second decade with the purpose to serve all women and girls around the world."

Ambassador Rabab Fatima took to her Instagram handle to express gratitude and her willingness to carry on the great work in line with UN Women's mandate.

She said, "Thank you @unwomenchief  for your support. I am honoured for this opportunity to lead the @UN_Women ExB for 2022. Look forward to working closely with you & Vice Presidents from flag of Argentina, Sierra Leone, Iceland, and Ukraine to take forward our agenda for women's empowerment & gender equality everywhere! @BDMOFA."

The Executive Board is the governing body of UN Women and the primary forum for interaction with the member states. It provides advice on a range of issues while holding discussions on the status of women and girls in the context of global development opportunities and challenges: on the upcoming CSW, on our Covid response.

Rabab Fatima served as President of the Executive Board of UNICEF in 2020 and Vice President of the Executive Boards of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) Executive Board in 2021.