UN: Mr Juan Mendez of Argentina, a human rights activist who was himself a political prisoner, was named yesterday by the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, as his special adviser on the prevention of genocide.
In the newly created post, Mr Mendez's job will be to keep watch around the world for serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law that could lead to genocide, UN spokeswoman Ms Marie Okabe told reporters.
After representing political prisoners during Argentina's "dirty war" of the 1970s, Mr Mendez was detained for a year and half by the military and tortured, leading London-based Amnesty International to adopt him as a "prisoner of conscience".
A lawyer and a native of Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Mr Mendez moved to the US following his release and worked for 15 years for the New York-based group Human Rights Watch, concentrating on human rights in the western hemisphere.
He is currently president of the International Centre for Transitional Justice in New York.
Rights groups lauded the appointment. "Juan Mendez is the right man for a key job," said Mr Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch.
"This job is to rouse the United Nations into action to prevent genocide and save lives. Juan has the courage to speak out forcefully and the credibility to be listened to."