NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF URUGUAY PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

Biographical Note

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF URUGUAY PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

(Based on information received from the Protocol and Liaison Service.)

The new Permanent Representative of Uruguay, Alejandro Artucio Rodriguez, presented his credentials to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today.

Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Artucio served as Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva, where he had served as Chief Counsel for 20 years.

Mandated by the International Commission of Jurists, he undertook missions relating to the situation of human rights in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Spain, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Paraguay.  He has also visited a number of countries on behalf of Amnesty International, Americas Watch and the Dutch agency NOVIB.

In 1993, the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights appointed him Special Rapporteur on Equatorial Guinea, a role he held until May 1999.  On behalf of the High Commissioner, Mr. Artucio also carried out evaluation missions to Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador.  In addition, he has organized several seminars, workshops and courses on different aspects of human rights in Colombia, Guatemala, Uruguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil.

Mr. Artucio has served on a number of legal and human rights bodies, including the Governing Council of the Institute of Legal and Social Studies (Uruguay), the Governing Council of the Association for the Prevention of Torture (Geneva), the Advice Council of the International Service for Human Rights (Geneva) and the International Consulting Council of the Legal and Social Studies Center (Argentina).

Once the armed conflict in Guatemala ended, Mr. Artucio was appointed Chief Counsel for Human Rights of the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA), in charge of verifying the respect for human rights and compliance with the Global Agreement on Human Rights.

An author of several articles and books, Mr. Artucio graduated in 1967 as Doctor in Law and Social Sciences from the University of the Republic, Uruguay.  He has taught on human rights and international relations in, among others, Norway, Switzerland, Ecuador, Uruguay and Spain.

Born on 22 August 1934 in Uruguay, Mr. Artucio is married and has two children.

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