The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, is expected to reverse her decision to step down from her influential Geneva-based post when her term ends in September.
Mrs Robinson, who has come under intense pressure to remain in the post, discussed the issue with the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, in Nairobi last night. She will meet him again today. The anticipated-reversal of her decision follows pressure from Mr Annan, high-ranking international figures such as the French President, Mr Chirac, and many non-governmental organisations. "She was regarded as having done a very good job," said one New York source last night.
Last month, Mrs Robinson was critical of the bureaucracy within the United Nations and of the lack of resources that had plagued her office's role since its beginning.
Mr Annan will make the formal announcement "in a few days' time", sources in New York and Dublin indicated last night.
Mrs Robinson has not decided how long she will stay in the UN post though it appears she will not serve a full second four-year term. Sources suggested last night she would remain in the position for a maximum of one year. Mr Annan is expected to be nominated as Secretary General for a second term later this year. His re-election would put him a stronger position to find a heavyweight replacement for Mrs Robinson whenever she does step down.
There has been no official contact between the Irish Government and Mrs Robinson on the issue. "Obviously, we will respect whatever decision she makes," said a Government source last night.
It is not clear if Mrs Robinson has managed to win extra funding for the High Commissioner's office, which survives on $20 million of the UN's $1 billion annual budget.
The Secretary General is not in a position to improve her budget since financial matters are tightly controlled by the UN General Assembly and, in particular, its Budgetary Committee. An attempt to give her staff, most of whom have short-term contracts, permanent status is understood to form part of Mrs Robinson's negotiations with Mr Annan.
The possibility of her staying on was discussed with the Secretary General when the two had a private meeting on the margins of a gathering of UN special representatives in Mont-Pelerin outside Geneva last Friday.
On March 19th she had said she believed she could play a greater role in bettering human rights outside "the constraints" of a multilateral organisation such as the United Nations.
In an interview with RTE News, she indicated that her relations with the US had not always been calm during her time in Geneva, and her human rights stand managed to infuriate Algeria, Russia and China.
