| US replaces top UN human rights activist Career Brazilian diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello has become the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Yesterday, his candidacy, proposed by Secretary General Kofi Annan and actively supported by the United States and Great Britain, was approved by the UN General Assembly. The 54-year-old official, who has worked in the UN system since 1969, will soon head the human rights commission established in 1994. Its first chairman was Ecuadorian José Ayala Lasso. From 1997 to the present, the commission's work has been led by former Irish President Mary Robinson.
The Irishwoman, who, by her own admission, would not mind remaining in office for three more years, did not work well with official Washington. The sympathy of Europeans and leaders of developing countries did not help. Ms. Robinson allowed herself to criticize the way the Americans are holding Taliban prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay base without trial. At the UN conference on racism convened in South Africa last year, she condemned Israel's policies (because of this, the US delegation left the forum). Earlier, a high-ranking official seriously angered the Americans by allowing them to pay compensation to Africans for the slave trade.
Before the vote, the warmest words about de Mello’s high professionalism were expressed by John Negroponte and Jeremy Greenstock, respectively the American and British representatives to the UN. The Brazilian’s colleagues speak of him like this: “He knows where the “red line” lies, which can only be crossed if the country’s leadership commits crimes such as genocide.” De Mello now represents the UN in East Timor, which, largely through his efforts, gained independence from Indonesia. In turn, the success of the UN operation ensured the career rise of the diplomat, who had previously worked in Cambodia, Lebanon, Bosnia and Kosovo. “My job is a minefield,” de Mello admitted in an interview with Reuters. “And my life is a succession of minefields.” The new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is certainly right. Human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch are already predicting that, despite all his caution, he will have to deal with “the Russians in Chechnya, the Chinese in Tibet, and the Americans in Guantanamo.” Alexey SLOBODIN |
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