UN Human Rights Commissioner to Leave in June
I noticed that Louise Arbour, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, has just announced that she will leave her position when her term ends in June. Her departure will be a real loss to the international community. As United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Arbour has been extraordinary in her courage, energy and integrity in speaking out forcefully on human rights issues.
She has consistently represented the highest ideals of the United Nations and has been a perfect example of the kind of champion the international community needs to lead discussions on global human rights challenges in the months and years ahead.
Arbour can be proud of her record – there is no doubt that she will leave a legacy of a strengthened and more wide-ranging United Nations human rights system with a stronger focus on justice and accountability as well as a more balanced approach to civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.
Arbour never hesitated to incur the criticism of States, or other entities, by highlighting the victims of abuses and the inadequacies of legal systems everywhere. She consistently has been willing to make the case of victims and unabashedly criticize states that fail to take responsibility to protect their people.
I would be remiss if I failed to mention that prior to her U.N. appointment, Arbour served as justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and as Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. In her role as chief prosecutor, she indicted former Yugoslav and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and investigated the displacement of two million citizens. The indictment of President Milosevic was the first of a serving Head of State.
Louise Arbour is the type of individual our next President should engage from time to time. She has a lot to offer and could provide invaluable advice on a range of critically important issues.
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