Secretary General Mr Kofi Annan paid warm tribute today to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, after she announced that she would stand down later this year.
Mrs Robinson had "achieved remarkable progress in raising the profile of human rights and making them a central issue in all societies," Mr Annan said in a statement issued by his spokesman's office here.
Mr Annan was visiting Central America when Mrs Robinson told the opening of this year's session of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva that she would not seek a new term when her extended mandate expires in September.
One year ago in exactly the same circumstances, Mrs Robinson startled the commission by saying that she would not seek a new term, because she could do more from outside the "constraints" of the UN system. Two weeks later, Mr Annan said he had prevailed upon her to remain at her post for one year.
Mrs Robinson "has travelled far and wide to promote respect for human rights and has never been afraid to take up the cause of the victims of human rights abuses, wherever they occurred," Mr Annan said.
"Nor has she ever tired of lending powerful voice to the cries of those victims, which otherwise might not have been heard," he added.
He said he "deeply appreciates her invaluable contributions to the United Nations and to the human rights programme."
AFP