Photo credit: UN Photo - Rick Bajornas

13 August 2018

 

Appointment of new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights 

 

Dear Members and Partners,

 

Last Friday (9 August 2018), UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Michelle Bachelet as the next United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Michelle Bachelet will succeed Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on 1 September 2018. Her term will be four years and renewable.

 

Ms. Bachelet ended her second four-year term as President of Chile in March 2018, having already held the position between 2006 and 2010.  After her first term, she joined the United Nations as the first Executive Director of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women).

 

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is the principle official who speaks out for human rights across the whole UN system. The Office of the High-Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) serves, among other things, as Secretariat for the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights as well as for the Intergovernmental Working Group on a binding treaty on business and human rights, in which the IOE is highly engaged. The IOE is also closely following OHCHR`s work on access to remedy as well as on the creation of an OHCHR company database for companies operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

 

The IOE will closely engage with Michelle Bachelet on the issue of business and human rights and will facilitate the dialogue with member federations and the OHCHR.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact us in case you have any questions.

 

Very best,

 

Matthias Thorns

Director of Stakeholder Engagement

 
 
Useful Links
 
IOE Contact
 
CONNECT WITH US!

On Twitter (@ioevoice) 
and Facebook (facebook.com/international
organisationofemployers)