Lana Nusseibeh Pledges Relentless Diplomacy, Action to Rebuild Trust in the UN

By R Chandrakanth

• “The United Nations was never meant to agree with the world. It was built to help the world agree.”

• “Lasting peace is rarely made in a single stroke.”

• “The Secretary-General has no army and no vote, but the Secretary-General has one incredible attribute and asset, and that’s trust in this organisation.”

• “I think these are very geopolitical times, and the world today needs a geopolitical Secretary-General.”

New York, October 29. Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, the United Arab Emirates’ candidate for United Nations Secretary-General, has outlined an ambitious agenda centred on conflict prevention, determined diplomacy, strengthening multilateral cooperation and reforming the world body to make it more effective and accountable.

In two separate engagements in New York, an interaction with the international media and a formal interactive dialogue with UN Member States and civil society representatives, she emphasised that the next Secretary-General must restore confidence in the organisation by delivering tangible results, acting earlier to prevent conflicts and ensuring that the UN remains relevant to the challenges facing the international community.

Proactive UN Needed

Drawing on more than a decade of experience at the United Nations, including her engagement with the Security Council and negotiations on major international resolutions, Nusseibeh argued that the organisation must become more proactive in resolving disputes, protecting human rights and advancing sustainable development. She also underlined the importance of an independent Secretary-General who would serve all Member States and remain guided by the UN Charter.

Rebuilding Trust

Addressing the media, Nusseibeh said the United Nations existed because countries disagreed, but its fundamental purpose was to help them overcome differences and find common ground. Her candidacy, she said, was founded on the conviction that even seemingly irreconcilable positions could be bridged through sustained diplomatic engagement.

“I am firmly committed to this organisation and its principles, and I believe, in fact, that this organisation exists because we disagree,” she said. “Our purpose is to help it agree and act anyway.”

During her interactive dialogue with UN Member States and civil society, she expanded on this philosophy, arguing that rebuilding trust must become central to the organisation’s work at a time when global security, prosperity and the future increasingly depend on decisions that no country can make alone.

“The United Nations was never meant to agree with the world. It was built to help the world agree.”

She said the UN must demonstrate that multilateralism could still deliver meaningful outcomes despite deep geopolitical divisions. Her proposed programme encompasses peace and security, development, human rights and institutional reform, while recognising the growing influence of younger generations, artificial intelligence and climate change on the international agenda.

Conflict Prevention

Conflict prevention emerged as a central theme in both engagements. Nusseibeh identified preventing conflict, advancing universal human rights and sustainable development, and reforming the UN to improve its effectiveness as the three principal priorities of her vision.

Responding to a question from the media about the authority available to a Secretary-General, she acknowledged the limitations of the office but emphasised the influence it could exercise through diplomacy, independence and the trust it commands.

Secretary-General has No Army and No Vote

“The Secretary-General has no army and no vote, but the Secretary-General has one incredible attribute and asset, and that’s trust in this organisation.”

She said the Secretary-General’s influence lay in the ability to bring governments together, exercise good offices and facilitate negotiations even when political differences appeared insurmountable.

During the dialogue with Member States and civil society, she proposed that the Secretary-General’s good offices should be used earlier and more purposefully, before disputes hardened into armed conflicts. Where fighting had already begun, she advocated concentrating on practical first agreements, including local truces, prisoner exchanges and humanitarian corridors for food and medicine.

Political risk-taker for peace

“Lasting peace is rarely made in a single stroke,” Nusseibeh said. “More often it is assembled from smaller agreements.”She pledged to be prepared to take political risks in pursuit of peace, even when the prospects of success appeared uncertain.

World Needs a Geopolitical Secretary-General

“I think these are very geopolitical times, and the world today needs a geopolitical Secretary-General.”

She further affirmed her commitment to be “a political risk taker for peace. I pledge to take risks, even if failure seems the likely outcome. But not trying would be a marker of failure.”

Her proposed approach would involve working flexibly with regional organisations, trusted partners and those closest to particular conflicts. She said the UN did not necessarily have to lead every peace initiative but must be present wherever its involvement could make a difference.

Engaging with the Security Council

In her interaction with the media, Nusseibeh pledged to engage frequently with the Security Council and work closely with its members to address major conflicts and humanitarian emergencies. She said the international community could not afford to allow geopolitical divisions to paralyse the Council, particularly when the consequences were borne by civilian populations.

Her more than a decade of experience at the United Nations, including her engagement with the Security Council, had given her an understanding of the challenges of building consensus. She cited her record of helping bridge differences on important issues and emphasised the need for persistence, diplomatic engagement and optimism.

Sustained Negotiations

During the interactive dialogue, she provided specific examples of her negotiating experience. These included co-leading negotiations with Japan on Security Council Resolution 2681, which condemned Taliban restrictions on Afghan women and girls, and leading negotiations on Security Council Resolution 2720, which established a mechanism to facilitate humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

She said these experiences had reinforced her belief that sustained negotiations and practical compromises could produce meaningful outcomes even in highly polarised situations.

Gaza and the Future of Palestine

On questions concerning Gaza and the future of the Palestinians, she told the media that she would address matters before the Security Council in accordance with the UN Charter and the Council’s mandates. She stressed that the principles of the Charter required support for people to live in freedom and dignity.

Sudan, Critical Test for the Secretary General

The humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan featured prominently in both engagements, with Nusseibeh describing the conflict as a defining test of the next Secretary-General’s ability to deliver peace and protect civilians.

During her interaction with the media, she called for an end to hostilities and a political process leading to a mediated transition that reflected the Sudanese people’s civilian and democratic aspirations. She also stressed the importance of upholding international law and the UN Charter while respecting mediation initiatives.

During the formal interactive dialogue, she responded to questions raised by civil society representatives and the Deputy Permanent Representative of Sudan. She made clear that addressing the conflict would be among her highest priorities if selected.

“The horrific conflict in Sudan will be the litmus test of the success of an incoming Secretary-General. Stopping that conflict will be the litmus test of success,” she said. “If I were to become Secretary-General, Sudan would be a number one priority.”

Addressing the atrocities and the question of accountability, she said:“The atrocities committed by the RSF are atrocious, and I would support the work of all UN fact-finding missions for accountability and transitional justice.”

Priorities: Cessation of Fighting, Increased Humanitarian Relief

She identified the immediate priorities as stopping the fighting, scaling up humanitarian assistance through both cross-border and cross-line operations, protecting humanitarian workers and pursuing a political process alongside a cessation of hostilities.

In her separate exchange with the Sudanese official, she reiterated the importance of the Secretary-General’s independence under Article 100 of the UN Charter and the urgent need to secure humanitarian access.

“The order of business is an immediate cessation of hostilities, but also rapid, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access.”She said she would work with Sudan and other countries that could use their influence and contacts to help bring about peace.

Reforming the UN

Institutional reform was another major component of Nusseibeh’s programme, particularly during her interactive dialogue with Member States and civil society.She argued that every unfulfilled promise by the United Nations weakened public confidence in the institution. The organisation, she said, must be ambitious about its purpose but disciplined in deciding where it could make the greatest difference. It should do less where other institutions could deliver more effectively and concentrate its resources where only the UN could make a meaningful contribution.

Her proposed reform programme would place measurable results at the centre of decisions concerning resources, activities and mandates. She said every UN initiative should be assessed against four questions: what it seeks to achieve, what it costs, what difference it will make and whether the United Nations is best placed to deliver it.

Referring to the ongoing UN80 reform initiative, she said“UN80 has made a start, and I will treat it as the floor, not the ceiling.” She also promised greater transparency and accountability in measuring the organisation’s performance.

“I will be relentless about achieving results and holding up a scorecard against those results that you can visibly see and I can demonstrate to you.”

Human Rights and the Next Generation

On development, Nusseibeh said the UN should be judged by what individual countries could point to in terms of actual progress rather than by the amount of money spent by the organisation. She highlighted decent employment opportunities, fairer debt solutions and development support for fragile countries as important priorities.

On human rights, she pledged to defend the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights rigorously and without double standards. She argued that the organisation’s credibility depended on applying its principles consistently, irrespective of the country or political circumstances involved.

She also identified the growing global youth population, artificial intelligence and climate change as major forces that would increasingly shape the work of the United Nations.

Theperspectives  of the younger generation needed to be incorporated more directly into the organisation’s decision-making processes. She highlighted the scale of the challenge posed by the growing number of young people entering the global workforce.

She said she would seek to bring their views “more closely into the decision making in this organization”, adding that the billion young people coming onto the job market in the next decade had “not had enough of our attention.”

Independence of Secretary-General Fundamental to Trust

The question of independence was particularly significant during the interactive dialogue, including the exchange with the Deputy Permanent Representative of Sudan.

Nusseibeh said the independence of the Secretary-General was fundamental to the trust and credibility of the office. She confirmed that she had taken a leave of absence from her ministerial responsibilities in the UAE government to pursue her candidacy.

She emphasised that Article 100 of the UN Charter, which establishes the independence of the Secretariat and requires its officials not to seek or receive instructions from any government or external authority, would guide her approach if elected.

She made clear that she intended to serve the organisation and its entire membership rather than any individual country or political interest.“If selected, I will be everyone’s Secretary-General, and my loyalty will be to the UN and to the Charter.”

She stressed that she was seeking the position of Secretary-General for all Member States and intended to serve the organisation independently.

Responsibility to Future Generations

Reflecting on the qualities required of the next Secretary-General, Nusseibeh referred to the legacies of former Secretaries-General U Thant, Dag Hammarskjöld and Kofi Annan. She highlighted quiet diplomacy, moral clarity and the willingness to make personal sacrifices in the service of the public good.

She said the next Secretary-General would need energy, determination and a clear sense of purpose to navigate the current period of international instability. The office, she argued, required a leader prepared to engage directly with difficult geopolitical questions while remaining committed to the principles of the organisation.

Ultimately, she said, the success of the next Secretary-General should be measured by whether diplomacy could produce lasting peace for people living through conflict and whether the United Nations could demonstrate to younger generations that the UN Charter and its principles remained worth defending.

Nusseibeh was formally nominated by the United Arab Emirates on October 21, 2026. The interactive dialogue with Member States and civil society forms part of the formal UN selection process through which candidates present their vision and respond to questions from the international membership and civil society.

The next Secretary-General will succeed António Guterres, whose second term ends on December 31, 2026.