SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS THOMAS HAMMARBERG, OF SWEDEN, NEW SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN CAMBODIA
Press Release
SG/A/621*
HR/4294
SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS THOMAS HAMMARBERG, OF SWEDEN, NEW SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN CAMBODIA
19960314 Following his appointment to the High Court of Australia, Justice Michael Kirby has informed the Secretary-General of his decision to resign from his post as Special Representative for Human Rights in Cambodia. His resignation will be effective on 1 May following his report to the fifty- second session of the Commission on Human Rights. Justice Kirby has been the Special Representative since November 1993.The Secretary-General has decided to appoint Ambassador Thomas Hammarberg, of Sweden, as Justice Kirby's successor. Mr. Hammarberg has in-depth experience in the fields of human rights and development, as well as first-hand experience of human rights issues in South-East Asia. He is currently Ambassador and Special Adviser to the Swedish Government on humanitarian issues and the Swedish representative on the Refugee Working Group within the multilateral Middle East peace process, and the Chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee for the United Nations study on the impact on children of armed conflict.
Mr. Hammarberg had previously served as Special Adviser to the Swedish International Development Agency and as Secretary-General of Amnesty International. He was Chairman of Amnesty International's Executive Committee when that organization was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.
The office of the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Human Rights in Cambodia is an appointment made pursuant to Part III of the Paris Agreement on a Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodian Conflict requiring the Commission on Human Rights to "continue to monitor closely the human rights situation in Cambodia". Consequent to this, the Commission, under resolution 1993/6, requested the Secretary-General to appoint a Special Representative to maintain contact with the Government and people of Cambodia; to guide and co-ordinate the Untied Nations human rights presence in Cambodia; to assist the Government in the promotion and protection of human rights; and to report to the General Assembly and the Commission under the agenda item on advisory services in the field of human rights.
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__________ * Press Release SG/A/621 dated 5 March 1996 should have been numbered SG/A/620.