Former Chilean president appointed new UN human rights chief
By Yin Miao
People's Daily app
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Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has been named the next UN high commissioner for human rights by Secretary-General António Guterres. (Photo: UN)

New York (People’s Daily) - Former two-time Chilean President Michelle Bachelet was officially appointed as the United Nations’ new high commissioner for human rights following a vote on Friday by the UN General Assembly in New York.

Minutes after she was voted in, UN General-Secretary António Guterres said he was “delighted” by the news of her official appointment, since he said Bachelet “has been as formidable a figure in her native Chile, as she has at the United Nations.”

Highlighting her role as the first leader of UN women between 2010 and 2013, Guterres said Bachelet gave “that new entity a dynamic and inspiring start.”

Guterres also praised Bachelet’s background as “the first woman to serve as the country’s president, but also as a survivor of brutality by the authorities targeting her and her family, many decades ago.”

“She has lived under the darkness of dictatorship,” Guterres said. “As a physician, she knows the trials of people thirsting for health and yearning to enjoy other vital economic and social rights. And she knows the responsibilities of both national and global leadership.”

Following the announcement, Bachelet said she was "deeply humbled and honored" to have been entrusted with her new appointment position, calling it an “important task.”

Bachelet will be the seventh high commissioner since the office was created in 1993. The high commissioner is the principle official who speaks out for human rights across the entire UN system.

Bachelet will start her term as high commissioner on September 1.