Croat Selected For Top UN Human Rights Post

Ivan Simonovic will liason with UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Ivan Simonovic, Croatia's justice minister, is the new UN human rights representative at UN headquarters in New York.

His appointment on May 5 ended months of speculation and sorting through a number of candidates whose resumes appear more impressive than Simonovic's.

His appointment is not without some controversy, as Simonovic served in Croatian governments in 1991-95 accused of war crimes.

But UN officials have said that he has gone through rigorous selection procedures to make sure that his name is not connected to any abuses during the Yugoslav wars.

Simonovic has a solid UN background, having served as Croatia's UN ambassador for five years and as a head of the UN Economic and Social Council.

He will serve as a liaison between UN headquarters in New York and the UN Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva.

-- Nikola Krastev