Two academic chairs to honour the memory of slain UN envoy

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has signed the first of two agreements to set up academic chairs in Brazilian universities in the name of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the top UN envoy in Iraq slain in a bomb attack at UN headquarters in Baghdad 19 August.

According to a UNHCR spokesman the chairs will be established at the University Centre of Brasilia, and at the Catholic University, in Mr. Vieira de Mello's native city of Rio de Janeiro.

The spokesman, Ron Redmond, said in Geneva today the chairs were, "an initiative of UNHCR's regional office for southern Latin America, aiming to involve governments, universities and international organizations in a partnership to broaden human rights related to academic programs."