Human Rights Watch Opens Files on Emirati Nominee, Says She Has a History of Denying Human Rights Abuses Committed by Her Country in Several Countries
In September 2024, Nusseibeh wrote to The Economist that “the UAE does not provide weapons or any other support to the Rapid Support Forces or any of the warring parties in Sudan.” This followed the publication of the first report by the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan, which concluded that there were “credible allegations” that the UAE was providing military support to the Rapid Support Forces via Chad. A letter from the UAE government, dated December 2023 and attached to the report, claimed that flights from the UAE to Chad were intended to deliver humanitarian aid to Sudanese civilians. The letter is unsigned, but it bears the letterhead of the “Permanent Mission of the UAE to the United Nations in New York”—which Nusseibeh headed at the time—and is dated from 2013 to April 2024.
In April 2024, in response to accusations by the Sudanese government that the UAE was providing military, logistical, and political support to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Nusseibeh stated that the allegations were “baseless” and reiterated the UAE’s categorical rejection of what she called “false claims.” In July 2024, when CNN asked her whether the UAE was arming the RSF, she replied: “No, these allegations are completely untrue. As the UAE has done in countless places around the world when a humanitarian crisis occurs, it has been quick to deliver humanitarian aid and then expand its reach.”
In November 2025, Nusseibeh, in her capacity as Minister of State, participated in an intensive Emirati lobbying campaign targeting prominent members of the European Parliament. The campaign aimed to portray the UAE as playing a constructive role in Sudan, ahead of a vote on a resolution condemning atrocities in the country, according to Politico. The European Parliament adopted the resolution without mentioning the UAE’s role in the conflict. Several parliamentary sources told Euronews that Nusseibeh personally pressured MEPs in Strasbourg to influence the resolution’s content.
In a subsequent resolution adopted in July 2026, the European Parliament criticized the UAE’s role in supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and called for sanctions against a UAE company involved in recruiting and transporting mercenaries for these forces.
A Human Rights Watch report published in May 2026 concluded that Colombian private military contractors, presumably paid by a UAE-based company, transited through UAE military bases before being deployed to Sudan to support and fight alongside the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), particularly during the RSF’s capture of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. During this period, the RSF committed numerous massacres, widespread sexual violence, and mass kidnappings for ransom. Human Rights Watch presented further evidence that the UAE provided significant support to the RSF, which contributed to its ability to commit war crimes.
Last August, the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan issued a report corroborating these findings, concluding that “individuals and entities operating from, registered in, or associated with the UAE played a significant role in networks involved in the recruitment, financing, transportation, and deployment of foreign military contractors, and in providing military support to the RSF.” The mission cited “multiple sources” indicating the presence of Colombian fighters in and around El Fasher before, during, and after the takeover, an operation the mission had previously concluded “bore the hallmarks of genocide.”
Human Rights Watch also documented the Rapid Support Forces’ use of military equipment, specifically Serbian-made shells to equip attack drones, which had originally been sold to the UAE Armed Forces.
On October 27, during an interactive dialogue with UN member states and civil society organizations, Nusseibeh was asked about her denial of the findings of the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan and the UN Fact-Finding Mission. She did not directly answer a question about whether she would “continue to reject the findings of the very organization she seeks to lead.” Instead, she stated that she had taken leave from her position as a UAE minister and would refer any questions about the UAE to her government.
As the UAE’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Nusseibeh repeatedly defended the UAE’s compliance with international law during its intervention in Yemen, while dismissing evidence of widespread violations. Since March 2015, the UAE has played a leading role in a coalition of states conducting military operations in Yemen, including deploying more than 30 fighter jets for airstrikes, providing naval vessels to enforce the coalition’s maritime blockade, and supporting local militias.
In 2016, Human Rights Watch documented 58 unlawful airstrikes by the Saudi- and UAE-led coalition that killed nearly 800 civilians and targeted homes, markets, hospitals, schools, businesses, and mosques. The coalition also used cluster munitions.
In August 2016 and May 2018, Nusseibeh issued statements defending the UAE’s actions in Yemen, claiming that the UAE “takes its responsibilities under international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians very seriously in Yemen.” The 2018 statement was issued just months before the UAE ordered humanitarian organizations in the port city of Hodeidah to evacuate, despite the immense humanitarian needs, as the Saudi- and UAE-led coalition sought to wrest control of the city from the Houthis.
“For over a decade, Lana Nusseibeh has consistently sought to whitewash the UAE’s abusive role in Yemen and Sudan, presenting her country as a humanitarian actor despite mounting evidence of its role in fueling abuses,” said Stanio Ugarte. “Having rejected and undermined the findings of UN reports, Nusseibeh should be asked a difficult question by member states: To what extent will she defend the independence and integrity of the UN and its investigative mechanisms, including those that expose UAE abuses?”
Human Rights Watch recently published a lengthy report on Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, a long-serving diplomat and official in the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whom her country officially nominated on October 21, 2026, to become the next Secretary-General of the United Nations. The report states that she has a history of denying and downplaying human rights abuses committed by her country in Sudan and Yemen.
According to the report, Bruno Stagno Ugarte, senior advocacy officer at Human Rights Watch, said: “Lana Nusseibeh has used her position for years to vehemently deny and deflect attention from the UAE’s war crimes in Yemen and its support for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan. Her disinformation campaign regarding the UAE’s human rights record, particularly her rejection of UN reports documenting the UAE’s ties to the RSF, has seriously undermined justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators.”
Nusseibeh has repeatedly denied that the UAE provides military support to the RSF in Sudan, while refusing to address clear evidence to the contrary. The RSF, engaged in conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces, is responsible for widespread war crimes and crimes against humanity as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur.