U.N. General Assembly approves Chile’s Bachelet as rights chief

UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) – The United Nations General Assembly approved yesterday the appointment of former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet as the world body’s new human rights chief.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the appointment of Bachelet on Wednesday. She will replace Jordan’s Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, who is stepping down at the end of the month after a four-year term in the Geneva-based job.

Bachelet, who was tortured under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, was the first woman to be president of Chile, one of the region’s most developed economies.