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Annan Picks Canadian Judge As UN Rights Chief

[UNITED NATIONS, 20 February 2004] - Canadian judge Louise Arbour, the UN's former chief war crimes prosecutor, has been named the new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN officials said on Friday.

Arbour, who currently sits on Canada's supreme court, made her name on the international stage serving on the tribunals investigating the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the rights abuses in the former Yugoslavia.

Her indictments of former Belgrade strongman Slobodan Milosevic helped clear his way to The Hague, where he is now on trial for genocide and crimes against humanity.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan tapped Arbour to replace his close friend Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was killed in the August 19 bombing of the UN's headquarters in Baghdad.

Vieira de Mello's deputy, Bertrand Ramcharan of Guyana, has been acting in the Geneva-based post since then. Arbour's appointment, to be announced later in the day, was welcomed by rights groups.

"Louise Arbour has got what it takes to be a human rights champion," said Reed Brody from Human Rights Watch. "As chief prosecutor of the war crimes tribunal, she showed that she could stand up to the bullies."

Arbour has written extensively on human and civil rights, and has a reputation as a tough-minded and brilliant legal scholar. She has been on the Canadian Supreme Court since September 1999.

[source: Agence France Presse/UN]

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