THE President, Mrs Robinson, would be a suitable candidate for the job of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Amnesty International said yesterday. But the human rights organisation said it would not endorse a particular person.
An Amnesty spokeswoman in New York said the group was aware that Mrs Robinson and the Costa Rican Ambassador to the US, Ms Sonia Picado Sotela, were candidates for the position.
"Both of them have their heart in the right place as regards human rights though, if pressed, I would have to say that Mrs Robinson's breadth of experience is greater," the spokeswoman said.
Amnesty has written to the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, outlining the qualities it would require in a new High Commissioner for Human Rights. It urges him to ensure that the new incumbent "is a champion of human rights who will be creative and bold in working to protect all victims of human rights violations".
The person should have a breadth of practical human rights experience and be independent, Amnesty says. "He or she should have a clear vision of the challenges facing human rights and be able to tackle them in areas such as women's rights and the universal application of human rights," according to Amnesty.
The commissioner should be committed to confronting governments that violate human rights, publicly if necessary, Amnesty, said.
Meanwhile, in Geneva, Amnesty sharply criticised the outgoing High Commissioner, Mr Jose Ayala Lasso, saying he had consistently failed to speak out against abuses.
It accused Mr Lasso, who left in March to become Ecuador's Foreign Minister, of having failed to meet the expectations raised by the creation of his office in 1993.
UN sources quoted by Reuter defended Mr Lasso, saying his quiet diplomacy had enabled the UN to set up rights monitoring offices in Rwanda, Burundi and Colombia.