Lana Nusseibeh,UAE's Permanent Representative

On the occasion of the UAE's 46th National Day celebrations, the Emirates News Agency, WAM, has compiled a series of reports regarding the achievements of the state over the past year. In part four, we look at the UAE at the United Nations in 2017.

UAE @ UN As a responsible and committed member of the international community, the United Arab Emirates participates in and engages with UN high-level multilateral meetings as well as in its works and activities, providing substantial financial, humanitarian, developmental and logistic support and recommending policy solutions to pressing international challenges being addressed and handled by the United Nations.

As an active member of the UN since 1971, H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said that the UAE remains committed to playing a role in shaping and developing successful solutions to global and regional issues in cooperation with partners in the United Nations.

At the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly in New York in September, Sheikh Abdullah emphasised that the UAE's foreign policy is guided by principles consistent with the Charter of the United Nations and international law, among others.

"These principles lead us to support a stronger role for the United Nations, and its reform, so that it can fulfil its mandate to maintain international peace and security and to bring about development and prosperity," he said.

The UAE is also home to many UN agencies, taking leadership roles in many of them.

In recent years, several UN agencies have set up major operations in the UAE, including some in Dubai's International Humanitarian City. Currently, there are twelve UN agencies with a presence in the UAE.

Substantial development assistance has increased the UAE's stature among recipient states, drawing commendation from the UN.

Thanks to UAE donations, especially to UN humanitarian and relief organisations, more vulnerable people receive food, education, medicines, shelter and water.

UAE diplomacy through the UN has successfully led effective efforts aiming at containing and resolving armed conflicts and emerging crises in many regions around the globe. In addition, the UAE has made significant contributions in the fields of peacekeeping, relief missions and reconstruction efforts in post-conflict regions.

The UAE recently offered US$30 million in financial donations to the UN, with US$15 million earmarked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and another $15 million to be allocated to support UN Women over the next three years.

This announcement was made during a meeting between H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed and the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, in New York in September. Mr. Guterres expressed his thanks to the UAE for its generous support to the UN programmes, activities and funds as well as for its positive political and humanitarian role in support of efforts to address many pressing issues in the region and elsewhere.

In November, the UAE pledged AED9.6 million at the 2017 UN Pledging Conference for Development Activities.

Member States participating in the conference unanimously elected Ms. Hessa Al Ateibi, Third Secretary of the Permanent Mission of the UAE to the UN, as one of two Vice-Presidents of the Conference.

These contributions bring the total of UAE pledges for 2018 to AED27.9 million, so far.

The OECD Development Assistance Committee consistently ranks the UAE as one of the largest donors globally, at over 1 percent of gross national income. In recent years, a greater share of UAE’s aid has been disbursed through the UN.

The UAE announced at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul in 2016 that it would increase its humanitarian contributions to 15 percent of its projected budget for the next four years.

To demonstrate its support for the UN work, the UAE ratified the Paris Climate Agreement, becoming the first country in the Middle East to do so. The UAE was the first country in the region to set a clean energy target of 24 percent by 2021.

The UAE was strongly represented at the UN this year and took part in more than 160 meetings during the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly, in addition to several multilateral, closed-door meetings.

Thanks to its prominent international stature, the UAE was elected to a number of high-profile roles within the UN system.

The UN General Assembly in June unanimously elected Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE's Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, as one of its 21 Vice-Presidents for the 72nd session, representing the Asia-Pacific Group of Member States.

She currently serves as President of UN Women’s Executive Board for 2017 and Co-Chair of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalisation of the Work of the General Assembly. On these roles, she said, "The UAE is committed to engaging in a variety of discussions taking place at the UN, and is always looking for ways to contribute to the development of the broader UN system. Through these roles, the UAE seeks to ensure that the organisation is better equipped to meet the needs of all member states."

The General Assembly also unanimously elected Ahmad Al Mahmoud, Second Secretary of the UAE Mission to the UN, to be one of the four Vice-Chairs of the Special Political and Decolonisation Committee (the Fourth Committee), which addresses topics related to refugees, decolonisation, peacekeeping, mine action, and outer space.

As a symbol of strong partnership between the UAE and UN Women, the global champion for gender equality, the two sides are working together from the recently inaugurated Liaison Office in Abu Dhabi, the first of its kind in the Gulf region, which will strengthen collaboration to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

The latest success for the UAE at the UN was the appointment on November 1st of Lana Nusseibeh, Permanent Representative of the United Arab Emirates to the UN, as Co-Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on UN Security Council Reform, by the President of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly, Mr. Miroslav Lajcak. She is the first Emirati diplomat appointed to the position, and will Co-Chair the process alongside the Permanent Representative of Georgia to the UN.

The UAE is also active in UN meetings on regional and global peace-making. At the United Nations Security Council’s Quarterly Open Debate on the Situation in the Middle East, the UAE reaffirmed its support for regional and international efforts to push the Middle East Peace Process forward.

In addition, the UAE reaffirmed its commitment to restoring stability to the region, noting that an absence of security in the region has caused a significant loss of life, displacement of people, and destruction of economic and social infrastructure.

The UAE is also a major player in the UN counterterrorism strategies and alliances, calling for the international community to hold States that support and finance terrorism accountable, and to demonstrate zero tolerance for whomsoever offers assistance or safe-havens to terrorist groups.

The UAE is actively participating in 15 regional and international alliances to combat terrorism and terrorist groups, including the international coalition against Daesh and the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum.

The UAE has welcomed the establishment of the UN Office for Counter-Terrorism and donated US$350,000 to support the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre’s activities for the implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

Paying attention to cultural heritage, the UAE co-sponsored UN Security Council Resolution No. 2347 for 2017 on the protection of cultural heritage in areas of armed conflicts, the first ever UNSC Resolution to focus specifically on this issue.

Adopted unanimously, the Resolution provides a global framework to combat the unlawful destruction and trafficking of cultural property during armed conflicts, particularly by terrorist groups. During a pledge conference held in France in March, the UAE announced a contribution of US$15 million to the international fund for the protection of endangered cultural heritage in armed conflict regions.

Speaking during a lecture on the ‘UAE’s role in multilateral issues’, organised by the Emirates Diplomatic Academy, Lana Nusseibeh, Permanent Representative of the UAE to the United Nations, said the UN remains a critical institution for global order, but it is tested today as never before and needs reform and renewal.

The UAE’s international standing will continue to grow as its successes highlight its prestige as a regional and global role model and one of the most generous donors of development aid and humanitarian assistance.

Looking ahead, the UAE will build on its global successes in areas such soft diplomacy and power, developmental and humanitarian aid, as well as hosting international institutions and events