June 2010 – Geneva

Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, formerly president of the United Nations General Assembly, has been elected by acclamation to the Advisory Committee to the United Nations Human Rights Council. A Roman Catholic priest from Nicaragua, d’Escoto served as foreign minister in Daniel Ortega’s government from 1979 to 1990. D’Escoto fills the vacancy on the Committee from the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States. The appointment occurred over the objections of such organizations as the watchdog group U.N. Watch, who had called upon the United States, the EU, and all other democracies to oppose the appointment.