José Ayala Lasso (born 29 January 1932) is an

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

ian retired

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

, currently residing in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

. He served as

Foreign Minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

on three occasions. He was the first

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is a department of the United Nations Secretariat that works to promote and protect human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Univers ...

Career

Pursuant to

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...

Resolution A/RES/48/141 of 20 December 1993 Dr. Ayala Lasso was appointed first

and started his four-year mandate on 5 April 1994. His first important challenge was to give contours to his mandate and establish the credibility of the Office. Barely appointed, he had to address the crisis caused by the genocide in Rwanda. His years as High Commissioner were marked by a continuous effort to give greater visibility to the United Nations

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

programme. Thus, he opened field offices in all regions of the world and traveled extensively to confer with leaders worldwide. His vision was to transform the former Centre for Human Rights from a passive conference-services secretariat into a pro-active centre of excellence with an expert secretariat and an expanded mandate to conduct projects throughout the world. Under his leadership the office should develop an operational capacity similar to that of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees. His priorities were

crisis management Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a disruptive and unexpected event that threatens to harm the organization or its stakeholders. The study of crisis management originated with large-scale industrial and envi ...

, prevention and early warning, assistance to States in transition to

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

, the right to development, and the expansion of national human rights institutions. As an administrator. he is remembered fondly by the staff because of his openness and kindness. Less successful were the efforts at restructuring, primarily because of the failure of the UN General Assembly to approve an adequate budget for the Office. Dr. Ayala Lasso resigned on 31 March 1997 to return to Ecuador to broker the peace negotiations between

and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, which led to the conclusion of the Treaty of 1998, settling the border dispute. Jose Ayala Lasso, Asi se gano la paz, Editor Pablo Cuvi, Quito, Ecuador 2009 In his diplomatic career he was Ecuador's

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

to the United Nations and twice

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the

Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

. During the 48th session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1993, he chaired the working group responsible for the implementation of the

Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (VDPA) is a human rights declaration adopted by consensus at the World Conference on Human Rights on 25 June 1993 in Vienna, Austria. The position of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Ri ...

, which had been adopted at the

World Conference on Human Rights The World Conference on Human Rights was held by the United Nations in Vienna, Austria, on 14 to 25 June 1993. It was the first human rights conference held since the end of the Cold War. The main result of the conference was the Vienna Declaratio ...

in 1993. One of the recommendations of the Vienna Conference had been the establishment of the post of

. He also served also as Ecuadorian Ambassador to the European Economic Communities, to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

and the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

. He continues to be an active human rights advocate and is an active participant of "Project 2048" of the University of California at Berkeley, which aims at the creation of a World Court of Human Rights.

References

* Jose Ayala Lasso, Asi se gano la Paz, Pablo Cuvi Editor, Quito, Ecuador, 2009. . * José Ayala Lasso, "Defining the Mandate. New UN Efforts to Protect Human Rights", Harvard International Review, Winter 1994/95, pp. 38–78. * José Ayala Lasso, "Making Human Rights a Reality in the twenty-first century" in: Emory International Law Review, vol. 10 (1996) pp. 497–508. * José Ayala Lasso, Report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on his Mission to Rwanda 11–12 May 1994 (UN Doc. E/CN.4/S3/3) * Report of Jose Ayala Lasso, High Commissioner for Human Rights, to the 1995 session of the Commission on Human Rights, E/CN.4/1995/98, para. 133. * Statement by the High Commissioner for Human Rights to a joint meeting of the Commission's rapporteurs, representatives, experts and working groups, E/CN.4/1995/5/Add.1, p. 6. * Statement by Jose Ayala-Lasso, High Commissioner for Human Rights, to the 1996 session of the Commission, 9 April 1996. Report of Jose Ayala-Lasso, High Commissioner for Human Rights, E/CN.4/1996/103. * Ayala Lasso, Jose. In: Encyclopedia of Human Rights, edited by David P. Forsythe. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Volume 1, pages 130-132. * Alfred de Zayas, "United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights" in Rudolf Bernhardt (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Public International Law, Vol. IV, pp. 1129–1142. * Alfred de Zayas, "Human Rights, United Nations High Commissioner", in Helmut Volger (ed.), Concise Encyclopedia of the United Nations, Kluwer, 2002, pp. 216–223; 2nd revised edition 2009, . * Jakob Th. Möller, "United Nations Human Rights Committee Case Law 1977-2008", N.P.Engel Verlag, Kehl/Strasbourg, 2009, p. 7, * Kirk Boyd, "2048. Humanity's Agreement to live together". Barrett-Kohler Publishers, San Francisco, 2010. .

External links