Ambassador Federico Villegas, President, UN Human Rights Council | GA Adopts Draft Resolution on the Right to a Clean Environment | Human Rights Council Appoints Special Rapporteur on Climate Change
Watch our exclusive interview with Argentine's Ambassador Federico Villegas, President, UN Human Rights Council 2022
The UN Human Rights Council has created a new Special Rapporteur position. Mr. Ian Fry is the first Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change.
On the 28 of July a resolution was adopted by the General Assembly in New York.
This is very timely, as we are seeing the impact of global warming not only in Europe and the US with fires, draughts, and floods, but in Southeast Asia, where temperatures reached 62 Celsius degrees in some places, last April, devastating crops and the livelihoods of small-holder farmers.
The UN Brief spoke with Argentine’s Ambassador to the UN Office in Geneva and International Organisation, Federico Villegas, who was appointed as president of the UN Human Rights Council for 2022, to discuss how the international community is on-board to make the mandate for the new Special Rapporteur as impactful as it needs to be.
The new Special Rapporteur, Ian Fry said, in its first press conference last June, that the onboarding of Russia, India, and China was a “work-in-progress”. (scroll down)
During Ambassador Villegas tenure we are seeing a number of reports that foster the promotion and protection of human rights in areas that till recently were not on everyone's radar, such as the impact of new technologies on gathering evidence, and also its double edged sword, as some tools can be used for surveillance of political dissidents, human rights defenders, and journalists.
One area that is just now gathering the deserved attention is the enjoyment of human rights by older persons. Meaning addressing age discrimination in its various forms, in employment and healthcare, and in particular the latest report of the the independent expert, Dr. Claudia Mahler, on the intersection of gender and ageism.
Addressing Systemic Racism
Some progress has been made to address systemic racism since the horrific images beamed across screens all over the world showing police brutality towards African-Americans and people of African descent in the US (by the way these types of violations of human rights by law enforcement happen in other countries too, but the murder of George Floyd by a police officer, that was recorded on a smartphone by a by-stander, sparked outrage and social mobilisation in May of 2020).
High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, issued a report that introduced a four-point agenda to end systemic racism and human rights violations by law enforcement against citizens of African descent, also the Human Rights Council established the International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement.
What should we expect of these initiatives? How to move from debate to implementation by country-members? What needs to happen?
Ambassador Villegas answered these and other questions.
Watch the full interview here:
Ambassador Federico Villegas is a lawyer and career diplomat.
He entered with honours the Argentine Foreign Service in 1993.
Career
2016-2020 Ambassador of Argentina, in Mozambique. He inaugurated the diplomatic representation in Maputo, carrying out the negotiations of the bilateral agreements to establish the trade, cultural, political and technical assistance cooperation framework, in particular in agriculture and food security. He participated in the Peace Process, as representative of the country chair of the international experts for the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) which fostered the Cease Fire and the Peace and Reconciliation Agreements of August 2019.
2012-2016 Director General for Human Rights. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Minister, Coordinator of the establishment of the International Institutes for Human Rights Public Policies of Mercosur and of UNESCO, both based in Argentina. Head of delegation to the UN Human Rights Council and to the Inter-American System of Human Rights. National Representative to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance IHRA.
2008-2011 Alternate Representative for MERCOSUR and the Association for Latin- American Integration (ALADI) in Montevideo, Uruguay. Minister Counselor. In charge of small and medium business, political and social issues in the integration process, and technical cooperation. Representative to the Board of evaluation and approval of structural development regional projects of Mercosur (FOCEM).
2005-2007 Director General of Human Rights. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Counselor. Head of Delegation in the presentation and negotiation of the first Right to the Truth resolutions adopted at the UN and the OAS, as well as of the first international mechanism to implement the San Salvador Inter-American Treaty for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at the OAS. He represented the State in cases before the Inter-American System of Human Rights. Head of Delegation in the negotiations for the establishment of the UN Human Rights Council.
2003-2004 Deputy Director of Human Rights. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. First Secretary. He coordinated the elaboration of the first National Plan against Discrimination, following the Durban Conference guidelines, and he represented the State before the Inter- American System of Human Rights.
1995-2003 Alternate Representative to the Organization of American States. Washington D.C. Second Secretary. Human rights, development cooperation and civil society issues. Chair of the Working Group for the negotiation of the Inter-American Program for the Eradication of Extreme Poverty and of the Working Group for the establishment of an Inter-American Agency of Cooperation and Development. Rapporteur at the OAS General Assembly.
1993-1995 Directorate of International Security, Nuclear and Space Affairs. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Third Secretary. Disarmament, chemical weapons and international security issues. He coordinated the establishment of the national chapter of the UN Register for Conventional Weapons and of the National Authority for Chemical Weapons Control.
1991-1992 Foreign Service Institute (ISEN). He entered first in the order of merit. Silver Medal and Elena Holmberg Award of Theory and Practice of Diplomacy. Thesis on Human Rights and Foreign Policy, the case of Argentina
1989-1990 Alianak and Associates. Administrative Law. Rosario, Argentina.
Education
Law Degree, National University of Rosario (UNR) Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina (1989)
United Nations Disarmament Fellow (1994)
Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) Cum Laude, Georgetown University, Washington D.C. Published thesis on Cooperative Security in the Post-Cold War, confidence building measures (1998)
Intensive Program for Human Rights, New College, Oxford University (1999)
Human Rights Diploma, International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France (2001)
Young Leader of the Americas, Rice University, Texas, USA (2004)
Visiting professor at the School of Foreign Service, Washington D.C.
Assistant Professor of International Law (1988-1992). National Universities of Rosario and of Buenos Aires
Primary and Secondary public school in Santiago del Estero, Argentina
AFS International Intercultural Program, California, USA (1984)
Ambassador Villegas writings on human rights and disarmament issues appeared in several national and international journals and publications.
Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Context of Climate Change
Mr. Ian Fry is the first Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change. He was appointed by the Human Rights Council at its 49th session in March 2022 and started his mandate on 1 May 2022.
Mr. Fry is an international environmental law and policy expert. His focus has primarily focussed on mitigation policies and loss and damage associated the Paris Agreement, Kyoto Protocol and related instruments.
He worked for the Tuvalu government for over 21 years and was appointed as their Ambassador for Climate Change and Environment 2015-2019.
Latest thematic reports
A/50/39: Report on initial planning and vision for the mandate
Cybersecurity at the UN
Listen to the recording of our latest Twitter Space here:
This one is about how the news media covers cybersecurity, what are the challenges covering this industry, and the impact of the UN processes such as the Government Group of Experts, and the multistakeholder Open Ended Working Group on peace and security in cyberspace.
Both produced reports on norms of behaviour in cyberspace. What are the challenges to make these non-binding regulatory frameworks work in practice, and what is the value of having these on-going fora?
Speakers
Starts this week in New York 1-26 August #NPT2022
Surveillance Software and Human Rights at the UN
Want to know more about surveillance software that targets human rights defenders, political dissidents, and journalists? Check these news stories and short explainers. It is nothing new, it has been happening since the early 2000’s, but now it has reached critical mass and the UN Human Rights Council is paying attention, as shown in various reports in the last year.
From 2021
From 2019
From 2016
Black Hat Europe
Mobile Espionage: Pegasus and Nation-State Level Attacks
From 2022
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