Michelle Bachelet, at the end of her last speech before the United Nations Human Rights Council, in Geneva. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini / AFP
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, announced on Monday that she will not aspire to a second term, for which he will leave office in September which he held for four years
“As my term as High Commissioner draws to a close, this 50th session of the Council It will be the last in which I express myself“said the former Chilean president 70 years before the Geneva Human Rights Council, which He did not explain the reasons for his decision.
He will leave the position in a moment particularly controversialafter human rights organizations questioned the full extent of his recent trip to China, where he had the opportunity to visit the Xinjiang region, where Chinese authorities are being sued for abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority.
Bachelet’s departure from his post as High Commissioner forces the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, to propose a person who will succeed her, a process that requires the approval of the General Assembly, where all the member states of the United Nations are represented.
Bachelet did not explain the reasons for his decision. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini / AFP
The office, created in the mid-1990s, is governed by a criterion of geographical distribution and, unlike other UN offices, has had throughout its history more women than men (four against three).
Before Bachelet, the Jordanian served as high commissioners Zeid Raad al-Husseinthe South African Navy pill and the Canadian Luisa Arboramong others.
A job under pressure
The office of High Commissioner for Human Rights it is facing severe political pressure from many countries around the world and although it can be held for two terms, almost all of Bachelet’s predecessors they avoided staying more than one mandate.
Bachelet, the first female president of Chile, who suffered torture during the dictatorship, was appointed to the post by Guterres in 2018.
The position of the High Commissioner for Human Rights faces severe political pressure. Photo: EFE
Born on September 29, 1951 in Santiago, Bachelet spent her childhood in various cities in Chile, where her father, an aviation pilot, was stationed. In 1970, started studying medicine and entered the Socialist Youth.
He experienced first hand the military coup of 11 September 1973 and the bloody dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). His father, Alberto Bachelet, died in 1974. because of torture for remaining loyal to the government of the deposed socialist president Salvador Allende.
Her father’s death would forever mark Michelle’s life.
In 1975 she was arrested with her mother by the secret services. They were transferred to the Villa Grimaldi center, a clandestine torture center in Santiago.
Bachelet, the first female president of Chile, who suffered torture during the dictatorship, was appointed to the post by Guterres in 2018. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini / AFP
Then they went into exile first in Australia and then in the German Democratic Republic, where he continued his medical studies. He returned to Chile in 1979 and graduated three years later.
IS pediatrician by professionmother of three children, was president of Chile a Two occasions.
After a first term (2006-2010), which ended with record levels of popularity, Bachelet was unable to apply immediately because the Constitution does not allow her to serve twice in a row.
She was then appointed head of the UN-Women organization in New York, an international position from which she promoted the value of women in politics.
At the end of 2013 he returned to racing at the helm of his country and served a second term (2014-2018), during which he promoted several progressive reforms, such as the adoption of same-sex marriage and the decriminalization of abortion.
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ap
Source: Clarin
