Brazil's Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello has today taken up Mrs Mary Robinson's post as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
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The new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira De Mello.
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Mr Vieira de Mello (54) has spent his 33-year career with the United Nations working primarily with humanitarian agencies and has experience on the ground including in Timor, Bosnia and Africa's Great Lakes region.
The diplomat, who as the UN's administrator in East Timor guided the territory to independence and elections earlier this year, replaces Mrs Robinson, former president of Ireland, who held the job for five years.
Speaking publicly for the first time as UN high commissioner, Mr Vieira de Mello today said his priorities were three-fold. "There are broad themes such as the protection of civilian populations in conflict, combating racism and all its wrongs, the rights of women," he told reporters.
Welcoming Mr Vieira de Mello into the job, Human Rights Watch urged him to prioritise the monitoring of counter-terrorist measures to ensure they comply with international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law.
The International Commission of Jurists said this week it hoped Mr Vieira de Mello would follow the example of Mrs Robinson in "courageously protecting human rights and the rule of law" in the context of post-September 11th measures by some governments.
AFP