Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 9 augusT 2018
Chile's Michelle Bachelet to be new UN human rights chief

By EDITH M. LEDERER in July 2010 by the General
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Assembly to combine four
Secretary-General Antonio U.N. bodies dealing with
Guterres selected Chile's gender equality and the
former President Michelle advancement of women
Bachelet on Wednesday under a single umbrella.
to be the next U.N. human In 2013, Bachelet returned
rights chief, a high profile to Chile to run for president
and often controversial job again and was elected
that has sparked criticism and served a second term
from governments target- in 2014-2018.
ed for rights abuses. Before Guterres' announce-
Guterres sent a note to ment, Kenneth Roth, ex-
the General Assembly an- ecutive director of Human
nouncing his choice of Rights Watch, said: "If se-
Bachelet and urging ap- lected, Bachelet will be
proval by its 193 member taking on one of the world's
states. Assembly President most difficult jobs at a mo-
Miroslav Lajcak followed ment when human rights
up, sending letters to all are under widespread at-
U.N. ambassadors saying a tack."
meeting will take place Fri- "As a victim herself, she
day morning to vote on her brings a unique perspec-
nomination, which is virtual- tive to the role on the im-
ly certain to be approved. portance of a vigorous
Bachelet is no stranger to defense of human rights,"
human rights abuses. Roth said in a statement.
The daughter of an air "People worldwide will de-
force general, she was pend on her to be a pub-
a medical student when In this Sept. 21, 2016 file photo, then Chilean President Michelle Bachelet speaks during the 71st lic and forceful champion,
Marxist President Salvador session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters. especially where offenders
Allende was overthrown in Associated Press are powerful." If confirmed
a coup in September 1973. by the General Assembly,
Her father, Gen. Alberto prison for two weeks before pioneer for women and president of Chile, in 2006- Bachelet would replace
Bachelet, was imprisoned they fled into exile. Follow- women's rights as a pedia- 2010, and was tapped by Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein, a
for treason for opposing the ing months of torture, her trician, a moderate social- then Secretary-General Jordanian diplomat and
coup and then-23-year-old father died of cardiac ar- ist politician, and a single Ban Ki-moon to be the first member of the country's
Michelle and her mother rest in March 1974. mother of three. head of UN Women, an royal family whose four-
were tortured in a secret Bachelet has also been a She was the first female agency that was created year term ends Aug. 31.q

UK prince, prime minister mark centenary of Battle of Amiens

Associated Press back German troops to parently descendants of
AMIENS, France (AP) — turn the tide on the Western soldiers who fought in the
Britain's Prince William and Front. Battle of Amiens, as they
Prime Minister Theresa May, Each country was repre- were scheduled to do.
joined by ministers and sented at the commemo- The Battle of Amiens saw
ambassadors from Allied ration of the battle that is tens of thousands of soldiers
countries and a former Ger- widely seen as a turning pour into the region, more
man president, marked on point, leading to the four- than 1,900 French and Brit-
Wednesday the centenary month-long Hundred Days ish aircraft and more than
of the Battle of Amiens — a Offensive, a string of battle- 500 tanks from Britain's Tank
short, bloody and decisive field successes that led to Corps.
confrontation in northern the Allied victory conse- The momentum from the
France that heralded the crated three months later first day of battle contin-
end of World War I. by the Nov. 11 Armistice. ued and convinced the
Chilling readings by May Also present was former Germans that the war was
and others recounted the German President Joachim unwinnable.
Allied offensive in the eyes Gauck. Britain's Prince William, left, gestures as he arrives at the Amiens "The effect of the war was
of those who fought, in- Prince William, the Duke cathedral, northern France, Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018. moral and not territorial,"
cluding a private, a tank of Cambridge, addressing Associated Press May, in her reading, quot-
captain, a commander the gathering, hailed "the ed then-British Prime Minis-
present in the pre-dawn cooperation without which A British youth choir took northern Picardy region. ter David Lloyd George as
hours of Aug. 8, 1918 for victory was impossible." part in the moving cere- The emblematic cathedral writing.
the opening salvos of the "It is entirely fitting, there- mony under the towering now contains a Chapel of French Defense Minister
combined air and ground fore, that today that same columns of the vast 13th the Allies. Florence Parly represented
assault by soldiers from Brit- international coalition has century Amiens Cathedral, William and May lingered France at the commemo-
ain, Australia, Canada, the returned to Amiens with our which was sandbagged at after the nearly 90-min- ration. President Emmanuel
United States and France. former enemy, in peace the time to protect it dur- ute ceremony to talk with Macron, who comes from
They quickly began to push and partnership," he said. ing a series of battles in the people in attendance, ap- Amiens, was not present.q