Ex-Chile leader gets UN human rights post

NEW YORK –  UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday announced the appointment of Michelle Bachelet, Chile’s twice-serving president who endured torture under the Pinochet regime, as the world body’s next human rights chief.

Bachelet, 66, is set to replace Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein of Jordan, a sharp critic of President Duterte and US President Donald Trump’s policies, who held the post of UN high commissioner for human rights since September 2014.

A two-time president who ranks among the world’s most powerful women in politics, Bachelet also served in 2010 as the first director of UN Women, the UN agency that promotes gender equality worldwide.

Guterres informed the General Assembly of his decision in a letter on Wednesday following consultations with the heads of regional groups at the United Nations, a UN statement said.

The 193-nation assembly will meet today to vote on the appointment, which is expected to win approval, diplomats said. Zeid is due to step down on Aug. 31.

Bachelet will step into a position that has drawn much controversy under Zeid, who decided not to seek a second term after losing support from powerful countries including the US, Russia and China.

Zeid last year compared Trump to a bus driver “careening down a mountain path,” engaged in “reckless driving” for his attacks on the media. Trump voluntarily left the UN Human Rights Council last June.

In an implicit swipe at Zeid, US Ambassador Nikki Haley urged Bachelet “to avoid the failures of the past.”

“The UN has failed to adequately address major human rights crises in Iran, North Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo and elsewhere, or stop its chronic, disproportionate obsession with Israel. It is up to Ms. Bachelet to speak out against these failures rather than accept the status quo. We hope that she does,” Haley said in a statement.

Among world’s most difficult jobs

With Zeid under fire for his blunt criticism of leaders, rights groups were concerned that Guterres would seek to appoint a less vocal human rights boss.

“If selected, Bachelet will be taking on one of the world’s most difficult jobs at a moment when human rights are under widespread attack,” said Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth.

“As a victim herself, she brings a unique perspective to the role on the importance of a vigorous defense of human rights. People worldwide will depend on her to be a public and forceful champion, especially where offenders are powerful.”

The daughter of a general who opposed Augusto Pinochet’s overthrow of president Salvador Allende, Bachelet was detained in 1975 and held for several weeks at the infamous Villa Grimaldi interrogation and torture center in Santiago.

“I was mainly tortured psychologically, and some beating, but they didn’t ‘grill’ me,” Bachelet said in an interview, using prisoners’ slang for electric shocks administered to detainees.

“I was lucky compared to so many others. Many of them died,” said Bachelet in the 2014 interview, one of the few times that she has discussed the ordeal.

The pediatrician and socialist who was Chile’s first woman to hold the presidency was in office from 2006 to 2010, and then again from 2014 to March this year.

Last year, Guterres named her as a member of a high-level panel on mediation that provides him with advice on peace efforts, describing her as a “long-time champion of women’s rights” with a “history of dynamic global leadership, highly honed political skills and a recognized ability to create consensus.”

Born in Santiago, Bachelet was studying medicine when she was detained for several weeks. After her release, she went into exile with her mother to Australia before moving to East Germany. She returned to Chile in 1979, but was prevented from working as a doctor for political reasons. She continued studying, specializing in pediatrics and public health.

After democracy was restored to Chile in 1990, she worked for the health ministry and in 2000 was appointed health minister, followed by defense minister four years later.

As president, Bachelet offered a dramatic break from Chile’s highly conservative political class. She reformed the pension system and improved health and social services, focusing on Chile’s working poor.

Malacañang yesterday welcomed her upcoming appointment as presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. hopes that the development would bloom into better relations between the Duterte administration and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“I would say that the entire community of states perhaps elected her for a reason, noting that no less than the United States has opted to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council,” Roque said. “So, I think the election of (Bachelet) must be a result of compromise and we are optimistic that we will have better relations with the new High Commissioner for Human Rights.”

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which Bachelet will head, leads UN efforts to protect and promote rights and speak out against violations around the world.

Duterte has lashed out at Zeid as well as UN Human Rights rapporteur Agnes Callamard for separately criticizing the Philippine government campaign against illegal drugs, which many critics deemed as a violation of human rights due to thousands of unexplained deaths.

Following the filing of terror charges against UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous people Victoria Tauli-Corpuz early this year in Manila, Zeid said Duterte needs “some sort of psychiatric evaluation” – a statement that sent Duterte into a cursing spree.

Zeid and other UN rights officials have focused significant attention on Duterte’s controversial drug war. Reports said the police had killed more than 4,100 drug suspects, but some rights groups alleged that more than 8,000 have been murdered in what they describe as crimes against humanity.

Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) also welcomed the selection of Bachelet as the next UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

Chito Gascon, CHR chairman, said Bachelet is known for her efforts to promote and protect human rights. 

“I welcome the appointment of Mrs. Bachelet as her public record attests to a zeal of ensuring that human rights are upheld,” he said. “It is good she accepted this challenge. CHR will continue engaging with the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights.”

Bachelet visited the Philippines in 2015 to attend the leaders’ summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. She also spoke at a women’s forum at Miriam College during her visit. 

Gascon paid tribute to Al-Hussein for his contribution to the efforts to address human rights concerns worldwide. 

“Despite difficult circumstances, the previous UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Prince Zeid, was doing well in efforts to promote and protect human rights,” he said. “That he chose not to seek a second term frames the challenges the office faces at a global level.” – AFP, Christina Mendez, Janvic Mateo