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UN rights chief says double the cash and staff
 UNITED NATIONS: UN human rights programmes need twice as many staffers and twice as much cash if the world body is to bridge the gap between "lofty rhetoric" and "sobering realities," the top UN rights official said on Friday. The main UN human rights body is hamstrung in dealing with the "daily assaults on human dignity and freedom," despite progress over the past 60 years, Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a report requested by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. "In an organisation pledged to promote and protect human rights, this is a call to action," Arbour wrote. "Our objective must be to help bridge the gap between the lofty rhetoric of human rights in the halls of the United Nations, and its sobering realities on the ground." Arbour said staff and money should double over the next five to six years and more bureaus opened in individual countries. She called for rapid-response teams, monitors in peacekeeping operations and a proper follow-up to hundreds of findings submitted in reports by UN rights investigators. Posted by: Fred 2005-05-29 |
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