Sima Sami Bahous (Arabic: سيما سامي بحوث ; born 26 June 1956) is a Jordanian diplomat and

women’s rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries ...

advocate, and has served as Executive Director of

UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity charged with working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women is charged with advocating for the righ ...

since 2021. She previously served as Jordan's Ambassador to the United Nations from 2016 to 2021. Earlier, she was Assistant Secretary-General of the

Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...

Cairo, Egypt Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Early life and education

Bahous is Jordanian, and was born in June 1956. She has a bachelor's degree in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

from the

University of Jordan The University of Jordan (), often abbreviated UJ or JU, is a public university located in Amman, Jordan. Founded in 1962, and it is the largest and oldest institution of higher education in Jordan. It is located in the capital Amman in the J ...

, a master's degree in literature and drama from the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

, and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

mass communications Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large population segments. It utilizes various forms of media as technology has made the dissemination of information more efficient. Primary examples o ...

and development from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

. She is fluent in Arabic and English.

Career

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, from 1994 to 1995 Bahous was head of communications at

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

. From 1996 to 1997 in

Sanaa Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

, she was then a development advisor at the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

. She returned to Jordan in 1997, and served from 1998 to 2001 as Executive Director of the Jordanian King Hussein and Noor Al Hussein Foundations. From 2001 to 2003 she was head of media and communication at the Jordanian Royal Hashemite Court, and from 2003 to 2005 an advisor to Jordanian King Abdullah. Bahous served as head of the Jordanian Higher Media Council from 2005 to 2008. From 2008 to 2012, she was Assistant Secretary-General of the

. In this role, she led a number of Arab League departments. From 2012 to 2016, Bahous served as Assistant Secretary-General for the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

(UNDP) and Administrator and Director of the UNDP's Regional Bureau for

Arab States The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

. In this post, Bahous led UNDP's 18 Arab region programme offices. In 2016, she was appointed the Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations in New York. In 2021, Jordanian King Abdullah II bestowed upon her the Order of The State Centennial in appreciation of her services to Jordan. On 30 September 2021 she became

's third Executive Director. She was described by the United Nations Secretary General as: "A champion for women and girls."

Criticism

During Bahous's tenure as UN Women Executive Director, UN Women and Bahous were criticized for expressing concerns on the effects of war on Palestinian women, while remaining silent on Hamas' sexual and gender-based violence in the 7 October attack on Israeli civilian women and female minors. The organization under her leadership was criticized for the lengthy delay in its response, a response that followed the organization's alleged silence during the war. As reported by ''The New York Times'', at the United Nations,

Gilad Erdan Gilad Menashe Erdan ( ; born 30 September 1970) is an Israeli politician and diplomat who served as Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations from 2020 through 2024. Erdan previously served as Ambassador of Israel to the United ...

, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, said he sent two letters about the use of rape by Hamas militants, appended with photographs of victims' bodies, to Bahous. He said: "I got no response whatsoever. Not even, ‘We received your letter.'" Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen called on Bahous to resign. An analysis of her X posts and those of UN Women indicated that out of dozens of them, there were no condemnations of Hamas, and almost zero posts in the first week of the war. Actress

Natalie Portman Natalie Hershlag{{efn, Some Hebrew sources claim that her birth name was "Neta-Lee Hershleg" ({{langx, he, נטע-לי הרשלג) and later, her first name was Americanized to "Natalie". {{Cite news , last=Shamir , first=Oron , date=August ...

posted on Instagram, and asked people to contact Bahous, providing her email address. She wrote, addressing Bahous:

"Women's organizations have neglected their role and abandoned the hostages in Gaza. They must take a stand now! The heinous sexual crimes committed against Israeli women on October 7th by Hamas are
war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...
s and
crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...
. Distance yourself from these crimes. You are committed to preserving women's rights without distinction of religion, race, or gender."

Publications

* * * *

Personal life

Bahous is married to Ziad Rifai and has one daughter, Jahan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bahous, Sima Sami 1956 births Living people Alumni of the University of Essex Arab League people Indiana University Bloomington alumni Jordanian women ambassadors Jordanian women diplomats Permanent representatives of Jordan to the United Nations UNICEF people University of Jordan alumni 21st-century diplomats Executive Directors of UN Women