Ambassador Rabab Fatima chairs the UN Women Executive Board

Ambassador Rabab Fatima, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, has been unanimously elected President of the UN Women Executive Board for the year 2022. The Permanent Representatives of Argentina, Ukraine, Iceland and Sierra Leone to the United Nations have been elected Vice-Presidents.

The election was held yesterday (January 11) at the UN headquarters of the five-member bureau of the organization.

According to a press release issued by the UN Permanent Mission to Bangladesh today (January 12), Bangladesh has for the first time taken over the chairmanship of the UN Women Executive Board through this election. The Executive Board provides strategic guidance to UN Women. This UN body is dedicated to gender equality and women's empowerment. As President of the Board, Bangladesh will have the opportunity to contribute to accelerate the work of UN Women.

In her inaugural address, Ambassador Fatima thanked the board members for electing her. The Permanent Representative of Bangladesh also thanked the UN Women Board members for their confidence in the leadership of Bangladesh in tackling the challenges that women and girls are facing around the world, especially in this time of the covid-19 epidemic.

Fatima said, "We do not have time to delay one moment. We must ensure that gender equality is ensured in the Covid-19 damage recovery plan and that all stakeholders, including the public, private sector and NGOs, work together to implement it.

Fatima also assured that the new Executive Board is committed to working hard to further the work of UN Women at this challenging time.

Ambassador Sima Bahaus, Executive Director of UN Women, welcomed the newly elected President. She said UN Women look forward to benefiting from the experience and wisdom of the new President. Bahaus expressed hope that Ambassador Fatima would lead the work of UN Women by providing guidance to the Bureau.

Prior to that, Ambassador Fatima served as President of the Executive Board of UNICEF in 2020 and Vice President of the Executive Board of UNDP / UNFPA / UNOPS in 2021.