UN Human Rights Council appoints Cuban as president
Campaign News | Tuesday, 5 August 2008
A Cuban jurist, Miguel Alfonso Martinez, who is president of the Cuban Society of International Law, was appointed this Monday to head the Advisory Committee of the UN Human Rights Council.
An experienced diplomat, Alfonso Martinez worked for several years as spokesperson for the Cuban Foreign Ministry.
Russian jurist Vladimir Kartashkin and Egyptian lawyer and women's right defender Mona Zulfikar were appointed as vice presidents.
The committee gives advice to 47 nations worldwide. Its members are nominated by their governments, but are expected to work and make
decisions independently, without any interference from their countries of origin.
The Council was created two years ago to replace the discredited United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
