Bachelet tipped as UN rights chief

new york — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to appoint Chile’s former president Michelle Bachelet as the UN’s new human rights chief, diplomats said on Wednesday.

Bachelet, 66, would replace Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein of Jordan, a sharp critic of US President Donald Trump’s policies, who held the post of UN high commissioner for human rights since September 2014.

A two-time president of Chile who ranks among the world’s most powerful women in politics, Bachelet also served in 2010 as the first director of UN Women, the UN agency promoting gender equality worldwide.

The daughter of a general who opposed Augusto Pinochet’s overthrow of president Salvador Allende, Bachelet was detained and tortured in 1975. Diplomats said UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed told a meeting of ambassadors this week that Bachelet had agreed to take on the role of the human rights boss.

The diplomats cautioned, however, that her appointment must be endorsed by the General Assembly.

UN spokesman Farhan Haq declined to confirm the decision but said a name was being sent to the 193-nation assembly. “The process is nearing its conclusion,” said Haq.

Bachelet would step into a position that has drawn much controversy under Zeid, who decided not to seek a second term after losing support from powerful countries.

“If selected, Bachelet will be taking on one of the world’s most difficult jobs at a moment when human rights are under widespread attack,” said Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth. —