UN human rights chief appoints independent expert on minority issues

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has appointed a seasoned veteran in the fight against racism and the promotion of women's rights, Gay McDougall of the United States, as the world body's first independent expert on minority issues.

The Geneva-based UN Commission for Human Rights requested the creation of the mandate this spring and it was approved by the UN Economic and Social Council last week.

Ms. McDougall's mandate includes promoting the implementation of the 1992 UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, which affirms the right of all people to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, and to use their own language, in private and in public, freely and without interference or any form of discrimination.

She will also identify best practices and possibilities for technical cooperation by OHCHR at the request of Governments, and will submit annual reports on her activities to the Commission, including recommendations for effective strategies for the better implementation of the rights of persons belonging to minorities.

Ms. McDougall was elected in 1998 to serve as an independent expert on the UN treaty body that oversees the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). At its 1996 session, the Commission on Human Rights elected her to serve a four year term as a member (alternate) of the Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

In that capacity, Ms. McDougall also served as Special Rapporteur on the issue of systematic rape, sexual slavery, and slavery-like practices in armed conflict. She presented a groundbreaking study to the Sub-Commission that called for international legal standards for prosecuting acts of systematic rape and sexual slavery committed during armed conflict.