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General Assembly confirms Arbour as High Commissioner for Human Rights

General Assembly confirms Arbour as High Commissioner for Human Rights

Louise Arbour
The United Nations General Assembly today approved by acclamation the appointment of Louise Arbour, a Canadian Supreme Court justice and ex-prosecutor for UN war crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, as the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The United Nations General Assembly today approved by acclamation the appointment of Louise Arbour, a Canadian Supreme Court justice and ex-prosecutor for UN war crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, as the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Ms. Arbour replaces Brazil's Sergio Vieira de Mello who, along with 21 others, was killed in a terrorist attack on the UN's Baghdad headquarters last August.

She is expected to start her four-year term in the Geneva-based post after she retires from the Canadian Supreme Court in June.

Ms. Arbour, 57, was the Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and for the former Yugoslavia (ICTR and ICTY) from October 1996 to September 1999.

The Canadian has been a judge in her home country since December 1987 and served as a senior legal academic before then.

Throughout her career she has published extensively, in French and English, on criminal procedure, human rights, civil liberties and gender issues.

During the Assembly meeting, representatives of Morocco, Malaysia, Bulgaria, Tunisia, Ireland and the Republic of Korea - many speaking on behalf of their region - congratulated Ms. Arbour on her appointment.