Who is Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE's candidate for UN Secretary-General?

Lana Nusseibeh grew up between the UK and Abu Dhabi, where her father Zaki worked as a senior advisor to Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan, the father of the current President of the UAE.

The Nusseibeh family originally comes from Jerusalem, where they are one of two families who guard the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Nusseibeh family have reportedly held this role since the conquest of Jerusalem by the Rashidun Caliphate in the 7th century.

Zaki Nusseibeh was also educated in the UK where he attended Queens' College, Cambridge, graduating in 1967. Unable to return to Jerusalem after the Six-Day War, he opted to move to Abu Dhabi, quickly becoming a central figure in the state's media around the time of independence in the 1970s.

Lana Nusseibeh followed in her father's footsteps to Queens' College, Cambridge for her undergraduate degree. She graduated from the School of Oriental and African Studies with a master's degree in Israeli and Jewish studies.

She began working for the UAE government in 2006, working to promote the "mobilisation of women voters." She subsequently served in the policy planning department of the Emirati Foreign Ministry.

In 2013, she was appointed as the UAE's ambassador to the UN, a role she held for over a decade. During that time, Nusseibeh succeeded in getting the UAE elected to the UN Security Council for the 2022–2023 term, for the first time since 1986.

The Abraham Accords were signed while she was ambassador to the UN. While her direct involvement remains unclear, she was a clear supporter of the move. She defended the Accords just weeks before they were signed, telling the Emirati newspaper The National: saying "The empty chair policy [of not being engaged with Israel] has not led to the fruition of peace that we were hoping for."

Notably, she hosted Israel's then-UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan at the UAE's mission, with discussions focusing on the COVID-19 global pandemic.

She also served during the initial stages of the war in Gaza, where she spearheaded the passage of UNSC Resolution 2720 in December 2023, which pushed for the reopening of border crossings into Gaza to allow for humanitarian aid.

Nusseibeh was promoted to minister of state for foreign affairs, a role in which she was responsible for handling relations with the European Union.

Nusseibeh announced her candidacy on Wednesday, promising where she promised to focus on reinvigorating the organization around its core purpose and ensuring results.

Following the announcement, she will need the Security Council's approval, requiring at least nine of its 15 members to vote in her favour and no veto from any of the five permanent members: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China. She would then face a vote in the UN General Assembly.

She may face some opposition, as, according to the traditional regional rotation of UN secretaries-general, the post should go to a candidate from either Latin America or Eastern Europe, as no secretary-general from Latin America has been appointed since 1991, while no Eastern European has ever held the post.