UN rights chief confirms plans to step down in June News
UN rights chief confirms plans to step down in June

[JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour [official profile] told members of her staff Wednesday that she will not seek a second term [JURIST report] when her four-year commission ends on June 30, confirming a Monday report [text] by the Washington Post. Arbour reportedly did not specify a reason for her decision, but said she plans to make it official in an address to the UN Human Rights Council [official website; JURIST news archive] on Friday. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon [official website] has already accepted Arbour's decision not to seek an additional four-year appointment. Reuters has more.

Arbour was appointed [JURIST report] to her position in 2004 after five years as a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. She succeeded Sergio Vieira de Mello [BBC obituary], who was killed in a 2003 suicide bomb attack on UN offices in Baghdad. Arbour served as chief war crimes prosecutor for the UN in the late 1990s.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Egypt President Anwar Sadat visits Israel

On November 19, 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visited Israel, becoming the first leader of an Arab nation to officially visit. Two years later, President Sadat became the first Arab leader to recognize Israel by signing the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty. Read President Sadat's address to the Israeli Knesset.

Jay Treaty signed

On November 19, 1794, US Chief Justice John Jay and British foreign secretary Lord Grenville signed a treaty in Philadelphia under which British forces pulled out of the disputed Northwest Territory. Review the Jay Treaty.