Robinson to relinquish UN human rights job

Former Irish President Mary Robinson will relinquish her position as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights today after five years in the job.

Mrs Robinson has earned widespread respect for her courageous stands on human rights and for her willingness to criticise abuses of these rights in both developed and developing countries.

However, she was effectively forced out of her position by the United States after sharply criticising several aspects of George W Bush’s "war on terrorism", including the detention of Taliban and al-Qaida suspects in cages in Guantanamo Bay without charge and without access to lawyers.

One of Mrs Robinson’s last acts as Human Rights Commissioner was to establish an ethical globalisation initiative in an attempt to force governments to meet legal rights obligations.