Nusseibeh Reveals Public and Private Funding for UN Secretary-General Campaign
By Ahmed Fathi
UNITED NATIONS, New York—**The United Arab Emirates has disclosed that Lana Nusseibeh's campaign to become the next United Nations secretary-general will be financed through public and private resources, raising questions about financial transparency in a leadership contest shaped by political bargaining among the world's major powers.
The disclosure appears in an Oct. 21 letter from UAE Permanent Representative Mohamed Abushahab, formally transmitted to UN member states by the presidents of the General Assembly and Security Council as part of Nusseibeh's nomination package.
The letter identifies both public and private funding sources but does not name the private contributors, specify the amounts involved, or explain how the campaign's finances will be managed.
The nomination was submitted by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, accompanied by Nusseibeh's professional credentials and an eight-page vision statement outlining her priorities for peace and security, development, human rights, and institutional reform.
What the UN Requires
The financing disclosure comes under transparency provisions adopted by the General Assembly in September 2025 through Resolution 79/327.
The resolution calls on candidates to disclose their funding sources at the time of nomination, with those details included in the UN's publicly accessible candidate records.
It does not specifically require detailed campaign budgets, individual contribution amounts, or a breakdown of expenditures.
The UAE's disclosure should therefore not be interpreted as evidence of a violation of UN procedures. It does, however, leave unanswered questions about the identity of private contributors and the extent of their financial involvement.
Those questions matter because the independence of the secretary-general is explicitly protected under the UN Charter.
Unlike national elections, candidates for UN secretary-general do not seek votes from the public. They seek support from governments, with the Security Council recommending a candidate for appointment by the General Assembly.
Each of the Council's five permanent members—China, France, Russia, Britain, and the United States—can block a recommendation through a veto.
Financial transparency is therefore part of a broader debate over how the international community selects the leader of an organization representing 193 member states.
A Commitment to Independence
Nusseibeh brings extensive diplomatic experience, having served as the UAE's permanent representative to the United Nations from 2013 to 2024, with considerable involvement in Security Council negotiations and multilateral diplomacy.
Her candidacy follows a series of informal Council polls that failed to establish consensus on a successor to António Guterres.
In her published vision statement, Nusseibeh emphasizes the independence of the secretary-general, invoking Article 100 of the UN Charter, which prohibits the officeholder from seeking or receiving instructions from any government.
She also confirms that she has taken an immediate leave of absence from her position as UAE minister of state for foreign affairs.
"There will be no exemptions for friends and no grudges against critics," she writes.
The pledge carries particular significance given controversies surrounding the UAE's regional policies, including allegations of support for Sudan's Rapid Support Forces, which Abu Dhabi denies.
The nomination documents contain no evidence establishing that Nusseibeh personally participated in unlawful activities.
Nevertheless, her candidacy raises legitimate questions about how a former senior government representative would exercise independent judgment when UN responsibilities intersect with the interests of the state that nominated her.
The campaign's financing arrangements introduce a separate question: whether it will voluntarily provide additional information about private contributors and safeguards against potential conflicts of interest.
Transparency Beyond the Minimum
Nusseibeh's vision places considerable emphasis on making the United Nations more accountable.
She advocates stronger reporting of program costs and results, reducing duplication and demonstrating that member-state contributions deliver measurable benefits.
Her argument is straightforward: governments are more likely to support an organization that can demonstrate what its resources accomplish.
That commitment also presents an opportunity for her campaign to demonstrate the transparency she advocates for the institution itself.
Disclosure of the identities or categories of private contributors, the scale of their financial involvement, and any safeguards governing their participation would provide a clearer picture of how her candidacy is funded.
The issue is not whether accepting private funding is inherently improper. UN selection procedures do not prohibit it.
Rather, the question is whether existing disclosure standards provide sufficient information to reassure member states and the public that candidates seeking the organization's highest office are free from potential financial conflicts of interest.
The issue extends beyond Nusseibeh.
Other candidates have also been asked to disclose their campaign funding sources, while transparency advocates have called for more detailed and regularly updated disclosures throughout the selection process.
Guyana's candidate, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, subsequently clarified that her campaign was financed exclusively through government support and personal resources, according to the civil society initiative 1 for 8 Billion.
Such disclosures offer an opportunity to examine whether the UN's transparency standards are sufficient or require further strengthening.
The Security Council will ultimately determine which candidate it recommends. But the credibility of that decision will depend on more than the political acceptability of the eventual nominee.
The next secretary-general will be expected to defend the independence, integrity and accountability of the United Nations.
**Those principles should also guide the process through which the organization's next leader is chosen.**