Volker Türk lacks the temperament to be the United Nations human rights chief.
The selection of Volker Türk as the next United Nations high commissioner for human rights risks becoming not only the most expected but also the most disappointing appointment of U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres’s tenure. An Austrian lawyer, Türk has long experience in the United Nations. Guterres previously had appointed him the senior official in charge of refugee protection at the U.N. refugee agency and then undersecretary-general for policy at U.N. headquarters in New York. Türk is widely seen as intelligent, so he may be smart enough to adapt to the needs of his new office. But by virtue of temperament and experience, he seems poorly suited for the U.N.’s top human rights post.
The U.N. human rights chief has few tools available to make a difference. A head of state, by contrast, might condition arms sales, military aid, trade benefits, or even invitations to prestigious summits as an inducement for another government to respect human rights. Such conditionality can be conveyed publicly or privately.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A silhouette of diplomats meeting in Belgrade on Dec. 3, 2015. JONATHAN ERNST/AFP via Getty Images
This article was written by Kenneth Roth and published by Foreign Policy on September 16, 2022. You can read the full article here foreignpolicy.com.