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UN chief names new human rights official

Xinhua, June 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday appointed Andrew Gilmour of the United Kingdom as UN assistant secretary-general for human rights and head of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in New York, a UN spokesman announced here.

Gilmour succeeds Ivan Simonovic of Croatia to whom the secretary-general is deeply grateful for his exceptional leadership and advice on human rights issues and the integration of human rights in peace and security matters, Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, said at a daily news briefing here.

Gilmour is currently director for political, peacekeeping, humanitarian and human rights affairs in the Executive Office of the secretary-general, a position he has held since April 2012.

"During this time, he has been responsible for spearheading the implementation of the Human Rights up Front initiative," Haq said.

The OHCHR Office in New York (OHCHR-NY) works for the effective integration of human rights norms and standards in the decision-making and operational activities of inter-governmental and inter-agency bodies based at UN headquarters in New York.

OHCHR-NY is headed by an assistant secretary-general representing in New York the UN high commissioner for human rights, who is based in Geneva.

The assistant secretary-general assists the high commissioner in advancing the human rights agenda among policy-making bodies, permanent missions of member states, UN departments and agencies, non-governmental organizations, professional groups and the media. Enditem