Geneva, 13 June 2022 (AFP) – The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Chilean Michelle Bachelet, announced this Monday (13) in Geneva that she will not be running for a second term.
“As my term as high commissioner comes to an end, the 50th session of the Council will be the last in which I express myself,” the 70-year-old former Chilean president told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Bachelet said nothing more about the reasons for her decision. So far, and considering that his term will expire at the end of August, he has not announced his intentions.
The post of High Commissioner for Human Rights faces strong political pressure from many countries around the world. Despite the possibility of two terms, nearly all of Bachelet’s predecessors avoided staying more than one term.
Bachelet, who was the first woman to hold the presidency in Chile and a victim of torture, was appointed high commissioner by the UN Secretary-General in 2018.
Recently, he has come under heavy criticism from the United States and NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, who accuse him of taking a very tolerant stance towards human rights abuses in China.
The Chilean has been criticized for failing to more strongly condemn the violations during his visit to the Asian country, the first by a man who has held the post since 2005.
It was also criticized for delaying the publication of a report documenting the human rights situation in Xinjiang.
On Monday, Bachelet said she would share the report with Chinese authorities, as it does in all countries, before publishing it.
He reiterated that he had spoken about human rights abuses in meetings with Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping.
“I have always stressed the importance of dialogue in my relations with all member states, including on the most difficult issues,” he said.
Bachelet announced an agreement with China for an annual high-level meeting dedicated to human rights.
– Detention and torture – Born in Santiago on September 29, 1951, Michelle Bachelet spent her childhood in various cities in Chile where her father, an Air Force pilot, was sent. She began studying medicine in 1970 and joined the Socialist Youth.
He experienced the pain of the September 11, 1973 military coup and the violent dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). His father, Alberto Bachelet, died in 1974 as a victim of torture for remaining loyal to the government of ousted socialist president Salvador Allende.
The death of her father has forever left its mark on the life of Michelle, who has always struggled to overcome the challenge.
In 1975, he was detained by the Secret Service alongside his mother. The two were taken to the center of “Villa Grimaldi”, a secret torture zone in Santiago.
Later, they both went into exile, first to Australia and then to West Germany, where he continued his medical studies. He returned to Chile in 1979 and graduated three years later.
This pediatrician, a mother of three, was president of Chile twice.
After her first term (2006-2010), which ended in record popularity, Bachelet did not run for the next election because the Constitution barred two terms in a row.
She was later appointed director of UN Women in New York, an international mission where she promotes the value of women in politics.
He ran for president again at the end of 2013 and won a second term (2014-2018). In it she managed to pass several progressive reforms, such as the decriminalization of same-sex marriage and abortion.
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source: Noticias
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