Is Türk succeeding in ‘walking the tightrope’ between the different dimensions of his mandate?

by Marc Limon, Executive Director of the Universal Rights Group and Amalia Ordóñez Vahí, Research Fellow, URG Blog, High Commissioner

September will mark one year since Volker Türk’s appointment as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, after his predecessor, Michelle Bachelet, chose not to continue for a second term (no High Commissioner has served out two full terms). It is fair to say that the choice of Türk, widely predicted by UN insiders due to his close relationship with the …

Who is Volker Türk?

by Yoni Ish-Hurwitz, Executive Director, Human Rights Likeminded Office Blog, Blog, By invitation, By invitation

Opinions have already begun forming about Volker Türk in the short time since the announcement of his appointment last week as the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. However, in the absence of a public competition, there was little opportunity to learn about Türk. He is also not well-known outside of the UN (and had few followers on twitter …