The United Nations is widely regarded as the ultimate authority in charting humanity’s course on future-oriented issues, including climate change and artificial intelligence. As the selection of a new Secretary-General of the organisation draws closer, member states are focusing on understanding the candidates’ visions for issues relating to climate and technology.
Since the establishment of the United Nations in 1945, ten individuals have held the position of Secretary-General, including one leader who served in an acting capacity from 1945 to 1946. While some Secretaries-General have left a more enduring mark on public memory than others, ten candidates from various countries are now vying for the same opportunity.
Equality First
Lana Nusseibeh, a veteran Emirati diplomat with an esteemed reputation at the United Nations, has emerged as a prominent figure among the seven female and three male candidates seeking to succeed António Guterres. Outlining her vision for the position, she said that “the challenges facing the next United Nations Secretary-General extend far beyond traditional issues of war and peace.”
During an informal dialogue with members of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, she explained that “artificial intelligence, youth unemployment and climate change are among the issues having the greatest impact on the international community.”
Nusseibeh warns that technological progress could deepen existing inequalities if governments fail to act collectively. “Artificial intelligence will either be the greatest tool for achieving equality or the greatest driver of widening divisions. The choice is in our hands,” she said.
Her vision for leading the United Nations as its future Secretary-General underscores “the need for the United Nations to do a better job of explaining its purpose to younger generations, many of whom have no direct connection to the memories of suffering left by the two World Wars, which provided the impetus for the organisation’s establishment. Simply put, we must restate the reasons for which this organisation was founded.”
She explains that “many young people will not grow up remembering the brutality of the two World Wars that led to the establishment of this organisation. As a mother of two young children, I do not want to see them grow up in a world in which we are forced to make this argument all over again because, in our time, we failed to prevent war and resolve conflicts.”
She also pledged to defend human rights “rigorously and without double standards”, emphasising that the organisation’s credibility depends on applying its principles fairly and consistently.
Following her address to member states, the number of countries supporting Lana Nusseibeh’s candidacy for United Nations Secretary-General rose to 24, alongside the backing of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
The Planning Journey
The Jerusalem Post, meanwhile, observes that “Lana Nusseibeh is gaining further support in her bid to become the next United Nations Secretary-General. Before assuming the position of the United Arab Emirates’ Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Lana Nusseibeh established the Policy Planning Department at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as its first director for three years.”
As part of her campaign for the position of United Nations Secretary-General, Nusseibeh presented her vision in an eight-page document. In it, she notes that although the Secretary-General of the United Nations commands no army and holds no voting rights, the position confers the ability to bring countries closer together on the basis of independence and trust.
Nusseibeh has taken leave from her position in the UAE government to underscore her independence, pledging to speak candidly when necessary, exercise quiet diplomacy when circumstances demand it, and spend more time in close proximity to conflict zones.
According to her document, Nusseibeh seeks to help member states negotiate a framework to succeed the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, incorporating clear commitments that governments can explain to their citizens and fulfil.
Nusseibeh has served as the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and as the country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from 2013 to 2024. She also served as Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Political Affairs for four years.
She currently chairs the Executive Board of UN Women. The President of the General Assembly recently appointed her as a co-facilitator of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalisation of the Work of the United Nations General Assembly.
Born in 1978, Lana Nusseibeh is married and has two children. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Queens’ College, University of Cambridge. She also holds a master’s degree in Israel Studies and Jewish Diaspora Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.
She has also served as the UAE’s Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan and chaired the task force on the International Renewable Energy Agency at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
What About the Future?
Looking ahead, Nusseibeh views emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and biotechnology, as opportunities to strengthen international cooperation. She stresses the need for artificial intelligence to help narrow disparities rather than deepen them, particularly by ensuring that countries capable of benefiting from these technologies are not left behind.
Her proposals and vision include “transparency in reporting artificial intelligence incidents; establishing voluntary mechanisms for information-sharing; testing AI systems by encouraging voluntary joint testing of the most powerful systems; and expanding access by providing greater opportunities for countries that use these technologies, rather than develop them, to access them and participate in their governance.”
On climate change, she pledged to help countries anticipate its effects, build resilience in the most vulnerable regions, and fulfil existing commitments. She also stressed the importance of giving younger generations a greater voice in decisions affecting their future, particularly given that approximately half of the world’s population is under the age of 30.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
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