CHRISTINE CHANET NAMED REPRESENTATIVE FOR CUBA OF HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

27 January 2003



High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello decided today to appoint Christine Chanet as his Personal Representative for Cuba.
The decision was taken in implementation of resolution 2002/18, adopted on 17 April 2002 by the Commission on Human Rights. The resolution requested the High Commissioner to take the necessary steps to send a Personal Representative to enable the High Commissioner to cooperate with the Cuban Government in the implementation of the resolution. Through the resolution, the Commission invited the Cuban Government to endeavor to realize progress in the field of human rights and civil and political rights equal to that it had achieved in the field of social rights for the population despite an unfavorable international environment. The resolution also encouraged Cuba to adhere to the International Covenants of Civil and Political Rights and to the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The Personal Representative of the High Commissioner is requested, in conformity with the resolution, to present a report to the next session of the Commission on Human Rights, which opens 17 March.
Christine Chanet, Magistrate Specializing in Criminal Law and Counsellor to the Court of Cassation of the chambre criminelle of France since 1996, was president in 1997 and 1998 of the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations, becoming the first woman to occupy this high position in the Committee's 20-year history. She remains one of the members of the Committee. She also served as a member of the United Nations Committee against Torture.
From 1974-76, Ms. Chanet was Technical Advisor and then Director of the Cabinet of the First Secretary of State of France on the Condition of Women, Françoise Giroud. She then served as chargée de mission for the Ministry of Culture (1976-77); as chargée de mission for the Sub-Director for Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1978-83); and as Technical Advisor to the Ministry of Justice (1988-90).
Ms. Chanet is a member of the French Society of International Law and of the French Branch of the International Law Association, and a Member of the French Legion of Honour and of the National Order of Merit.



* *** *