*EPF210 07/23/2002
Overseer of Timor Independence Chosen for Top U.N. Human Rights Post
(Sergio Vieira de Mello to succeed Mary Robinson) (730)

By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has selected veteran U.N. official Sergio Vieira de Mello of Brazil to be the world body's top human rights official.

In a July 22 statement, the United Nations said Vieira de Mello has been nominated to be the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, after having helped oversee East Timor's transition to independence. Prior to that, he was briefly Annan's Special Representative for Kosovo after a stint at U.N. headquarters in New York as under secretary general for humanitarian affairs.

The United Nations said the 189-member U.N. General Assembly was expected to approve Vieira de Mello's nomination for the position July 23.

Since 1969, the bulk of Vieira de Mello's career has been with the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, where he also had considerable field experience.

Vieira de Mello, who succeeds High Commissioner Mary Robinson, will begin his four-year term September 12. Robinson, the former president of Ireland, had agreed to stay on for one more year after completing her tenure in September 2001.

The post was created by the General Assembly in the wake of the 1993 U.N. Conference on Human Rights, with Jos?Ayala-Lasso -- a key negotiator in that process -- becoming the first U.N. high commissioner for human rights in 1994.

The high commissioner is the U.N. official with principal responsibility for the organization's human rights activities, under the direction and authority of the secretary general.

Meanwhile, a U.N. human rights expert has expressed grave concern over what he described as "the undermining of the rule of law and the administration of justice" in Colombia as a result of escalation in fighting in that Andean nation.

Dato' Param Cumaraswamy, a Malaysian serving on the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, said "recent actions by armed groups are seriously undermining the ability of the judiciary to dispense justice" in Colombia. "Attacks directed at the judicial system are particularly shocking, have no legitimate military objective, and can only represent an attempt to threaten the independence of the judiciary, undermine justice, and the rule of law," said Cumaraswamy, who is the commission's special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.

Cumaraswamy said many courts in Colombia had come under threat, resulting in court closures and the displacement of judicial officials.

"An independent judicial system is a cornerstone of a democratic state based upon the rule of law, and an important safeguard for the protection of human rights," Cumaraswamy said. "Respect must be accorded to its independent functioning."

Cumaraswamy called upon all parties in Colombia "to ensure that all persons involved in the judicial system, including judges, prosecutors, lawyers and judicial civil servants, can discharge their duties freely so that access to justice for all Colombians remains unimpeded."

In another development, the human rights commission of the Organization of American States (OAS) is making a July 23-26 trip to Guatemala where it will meet with government officials and members of civil society to discuss the defense of human rights in that country.

The delegation includes Santiago Canton, executive secretary of the OAS's Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, known by its Spanish acronym (CIDH). The commission's trip follows that of a May visit to Guatemala by a U.N. special representative to assess the human rights situation in the nation. One purpose of that May trip was to investigate incidents related to alleged human rights abuses in Guatemala.

Roger Noriega, U.S. permanent representative to the OAS, calls the CIDH a "vital advocate" for the rule of law in the Western Hemisphere that receives the full support of the Bush Administration.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has said that peace accords signed in Guatemala in 1996 ending 36 years of civil war need to take full effect in order for that Central American nation to achieve peace, democracy, and equitable growth.

The United States, along with Mexico, Spain, Norway, Venezuela, and Colombia, served as the "group of friends" of the Guatemalan peace process. U.S. economic aid to Guatemala has been built around supporting those peace accords. The accords dealt with such issues as protecting human rights, resettling displaced persons, ensuring the rights of indigenous people, and promoting land reform.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

Return to Public File Main Page

Return to Public Table of Contents