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New UN Human Rights Commissioner: 57-year-old lawyer Volker Türk
Photo: Munir Uz Zaman / dpa
An important post at the United Nations has been filled: Volker Türk has been appointed the new United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights.
At the suggestion of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the 57-year-old was approved by the UN General Assembly on Thursday to succeed Michelle Bachelet.
Türk previously held the post of deputy general secretary.
Former Chilean President Bachelet was UN human rights commissioner for four years.
Her tenure ended last week and she did not reapply for the post.
The 57-year-old Austrian Türk has been with the UN for more than three decades.
He worked closely with Guterres when he ran the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Türk has worked for UNHCR for more than two decades, most recently as Deputy High Commissioner from 2015 to 2019.
Türk's difficult Xinjiang task
The end of Bachelet's tenure was marked by the release of a long-awaited report on possible human rights violations against Uyghurs and other minorities in China's Xinjiang region.
The report was only published a few minutes before the end of the term of office.
"The extent of the arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of the Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim groups (...) could constitute international crimes, particularly crimes against humanity," the report said.
Now it's up to Türk to deal with the difficult task of the follow-up.
China dismissed the findings cited in the report and accused the UN of being an "accomplice of the US and the West."
Human rights groups are demanding that the next UN human rights commissioner should have the courage to take on the most powerful countries and denounce violations.
col/AFP/dpa
