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Guterres to propose Volker Turk as UN human rights chief

08 September 2022 14:17 (UTC +04:00)

Austrian Volker Turk will be proposed as the next United Nations human rights chief by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, according to a UN document published on Thursday, APA reports citing Tele Trader.

Turk is expected to succeed Chile's Michelle Bachelet, whose term finished at the end of last month. However, the decision first has to be passed by the UN General Assembly.

Turk has worked in Guterres' office as Under Secretary-General for Policy since 2019, while he previously held positions at the UNHCR. If approved, Turk's first challenge will be dealing with the UN's latest report on China's discrimination of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region.