On July 12 United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan named Juan Mendez as his Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. Mendez will act as an early warning mechanism to Annan and the Security Council about potential situations that could develop into genocide, and will make recommendations to the council and others on how the United Nations can prevent these events. Mendez, a lawyer and one-time prisoner of conscience in Argentina, has extensive experience in the international human rights field. The former director of Human Rights Watch/Americas and Human Rights Watch General Counsel, he also has served as the executive director of the Inter-American Institute on Human Rights, as a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and as a professor of law and director of the Center for Civil and Human Rights at Notre Dame University School of Law. He currently is the president of the International Center for Transitional Justice.
Mendez’ appointment is part of Annan's Five-Point Action Plan to Prevent Genocide. The plan's other four objectives are: preventing armed conflict, which usually provides the context for genocide; protecting civilians in armed conflict, including mandates for U.N. peacekeepers to protect civilians; ending impunity through judicial action in both national and international courts; and acting swiftly and decisively along a continuum of steps, including military action.
