UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, whose term ends Wednesday, will be temporarily replaced by her deputy until her successor is named, the UN secretary-general’s spokesperson said.
Bachelet took office on September 1, 2018, and announced in June that she would not seek a second term in order to spend time with her family and in her own country.
The former Chilean president has been severely criticized in recent months by the United States and also by major NGOs, who accuse her of a lack of firmness in the face of human rights violations in China. Some have accused her of behaving as a “diplomat” rather than as a defender of human rights.
“This is not a job for a nice, quiet diplomat, because a quiet diplomat has no leverage. Nobody listens to a quiet diplomat. Nobody changes their behaviour because of a quiet diplomat,” Kenneth Roth, the outgoing head of Human Rights Watch, said in a recent interview with AFP.
