UN Human Rights Council Elects First Woman President

http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2011/06/un-human-rights-council-elects-its-first-woman-president/

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ELECTS FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT

Laura Dupuy Lasserre

20 June 2011 - The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva has elected the first woman ever to serve as its President.

Laura Dupuy Lasserre, from Uruguay replaces the outgoing president, Thailand’s Sihasak Phuangketkeow.

She says she knows at first hand how important human rights are because her homeland, until a little over 20 years ago, suffered from a painful dictatorship.

“My personal commitment to this cause, apart from deriving from shared national values where democracy and social justice go hand in hand, also involves having seen from very close by the injustices of the dictatorship. These directly affected my family. My father was a political prisoner and tortured, like many other victims who I wish to honour today.”