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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to Step Down
Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has unexpectedly announced that she will not seek a second term in the post, BBC repots on March 19.
Former Irish President Mrs Robinson said that she thought she could achieve more outside the "constraints" of the UN.
She described the resources available to her office as inadequate and said there was a striking contrast between the fine words used at the annual UN Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva and the realities on the ground.
Her announcement came as a surprise to senior staff and diplomats who had believed she might follow the example of other UN chiefs and seek a second term.
Mrs Robinson, only the second person to serve in the post, is scheduled to step down in September at the end of her four-year term.
Mrs Robinson told the 53-member nation commission at the start of its six-week session: "I know some will feel that I should have sought to continue working from within the United Nations and I ask them to respect my decision."
Mrs Robinson's mandate expires after the World Conference against Racism, to be held in South Africa from 31 August to 7 September.
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