Argentina to chair the UN Human Rights Council in 2022
Argentina will chair the United Nations Human Rights Council next year for the first time in its history, following the election of career diplomat Federico Villegas Beltrán as the body’s next president.
The election of Ambassador Villegas as the intergovernmental body’s president - agreed unanimously by the council’s 47 member states as a UN convention in Geneva on Monday - means that Argentina will play a key role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide over the next 12 months.
The presidency rotates on an annual basis and 2022 was Latin America’s turn.
The news will be seen as a rare diplomatic victory on the international stage for President Alberto Fernández, who failed to place key allies leading multilateral bodies and institutions, including the InterAmerican Development Bank and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
Hailing the news, Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero welcomed Argentina’s appointment to the body’s rotating presidency as “recognition of our country and its commitment to human rights since the recovery of democracy" in 1983.
At: https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/argentina/argentina-to-chair-the-un-human-rights-council-in-2022.phtml
Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji hands over the UN Human Rights Council gavel to Ambassador Federico Villegas Beltrán of Argentina.
This will be Argentina's first turn at the presidency of the 15 year-old UN council, which rotates yearly.
Argentina, in 1985, held the world's first human rights trial against former dictators by its own authorities.
