U.N. Chief Picks Irish President as Top Rights Official

Irish President Mary Robinson was named the United Nations’ top human rights official Thursday, and is expected to lead a renewed effort by the world organization to protect and advocate civil liberties and the rule of law around the globe.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Robinson “an extraordinary leader . . . who will bring dynamism, credibility and leadership” to the post. He said his selection of Robinson, which must be ratified by the U.N. General Assembly, is “one of the most important appointments that I will probably have the opportunity of making during my term.”

Since taking office in January, Annan has repeatedly stressed that he sees human rights advocacy as among the most significant items on the U.N. agenda for the 21st century.

As the Geneva-based high commissioner for human rights, Robinson is expected to act as an international champion of human rights and help develop a set of international standards for civil liberties, U.N. officials said. They also expect her to be a strong advocate for increased funding for U.N. human rights investigations and other activities.

Annan’s vision of the job generally meshes with that of the Clinton administration, which quietly supported Robinson’s candidacy over that of the other leading candidate, Sonia Picado, Costa Rica’s ambassador to the United States.

“The challenges that the new post will bring are daunting, but they are ones I am gladly prepared to accept,” Robinson, whose presidential term ends in December, said in a statement from Dublin. “I hope to avail myself of the opportunities which now exist, with the support of the international community, to make significant progress in the protection and promotion of human rights worldwide.”

Annan said he hopes that Robinson will leave her presidency early and take over her new office in time for the 52nd annual session of the U.N. General Assembly in September. If approved, she will succeed Jose Ayala Lasso, who resigned in March to become foreign minister in his native Ecuador.

Ayala Lasso deeply disappointed independent human rights groups because he was loath to publicly criticize governments for human rights violations, favoring a program of “quiet diplomacy” that had little apparent effect. But human rights advocates praised Robinson’s appointment Thursday.

“The high commissioner needs to be someone who’s ready to take public stands in defense of human rights principles and against human rights abuses,” said Joanna Weschler, the U.N. representative for Human Rights Watch. “We need a loud moral voice in this area . . . and she’s both willing and capable of speaking up.”

Although Robinson will enter office with the strong backing of the United States and Europe, many developing nations had called for the appointment of someone from the Third World. Because Ayala Lasso resigned with one year left on his four-year term, Latin American countries wanted his successor to come from that region.

Robinson will also confront different definitions of human rights. While the Western democracies tend to view human rights in the context of individual political liberties, many developing countries, particularly those with authoritarian governments, place a higher value on collective rights and economic development.

Despite those issues, sources in the U.N. secretariat said Thursday that they do not expect serious opposition when Robinson’s nomination is submitted to the General Assembly. Annan also promised Thursday to appoint a deputy commissioner from the developing world.

Robinson, 53, comes to the United Nations after transforming the Irish presidency, which under that country’s parliamentary system is a largely ceremonial and symbolic position. Previous presidents tended to limit their activities to opening flower shows and the like, while staying away from controversy.

But Robinson, whose first career was as a civil rights lawyer, used the presidency as a platform on behalf of the poor, the dispossessed and women. She called international attention to genocide in Rwanda and starvation in Somalia.

To the rest of the world, she became the symbol of an emerging new Ireland, booming economically and an enthusiastic participant in the European Union.

“No politician in the history of the [Irish] state arguably--no Irish politician since Charles Stewart Parnell at his height in the 1880s--has commanded such wide respect,” the Irish Times of Dublin said earlier this year. “Mary Robinson has achieved approval ratings of over 90% even in the most controversial periods of her presidency . . . because she has combined qualities that don’t often go together--the intellectual toughness of a determined fighter with the dignity and warmth of a woman who has obviously learned a great deal from the people she has met through her office.”

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Profile: Mary Bourke Robinson

Born: May 21, 1944, in Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland

Education: degrees from Dublin’s Trinity College and Harvard University

Professional background: human rights lawyer, member of the Irish Senate, 1969-89; Dublin City Council, 1979-83; president of Ireland since 1990

Personal background: married to Nicholas Robinson, an attorney and unofficial advisor, since 1970; they have three children, Tessa, William and Aubrey

Quote: “My grandfather was a lawyer. He instilled into us from an early age a sense of natural justice which has been a guiding light for me.”