Canadian gets U.N. human rights post

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed former chief war crimes prosecutor Louise Arbour on Friday to the U.N.'s top human rights post, a choice welcomed by human rights activists.

Arbour, a Supreme Court justice in Canada, will take over as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights if the General Assembly approves the appointment. U.N. diplomats said no opposition was expected.

The post has been vacant since Sergio Vieira de Mello was killed in the Aug. 19 bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad while on temporary assignment as the top U.N. envoy in Iraq. Twenty-two people were killed.

Arbour, 56, gained international prominence as the second chief prosecutor of the tribunals trying the main perpetrators of the 1994 Rwanda genocide and the massive human rights crimes in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s.

During her 1996-1999 term as prosecutor, Arbour indicted former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and other leading Serb and Yugoslav officials for crimes against humanity. Milosevic is on trial.

"This is a woman who knows how to stand up to the bullies," said Reed Brody, special counsel for Human Rights Watch. "She showed at the war crimes tribunal that she has the courage and the tenacity to get things done. Kofi Annan has hit a home run with this choice."

World and national headlines

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright