Dr. Yanghee Lee, a professor of child psychology and education at SKKU, who is a special rapporteur on the human rights of Myanmar was elected president of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures on June 10th.  The term of the president is until the annual conference next June.  She is the first Korean to become president of this committee since the UN Human Rights Council was established as well as the first special rapporteur on human rights and Asia from Korea.

The UN Human Rights Council’s Special Procedures Committee is a central part of the UN Human Rights System.  It deals with overall human rights and consists of a special rapporteur, independent expert, and a working group.  An elected expert is called a mandate holder and is in charge of evaluating a human rights situation in a specific country and giving advice.  In addition to this, the individual works independently as an expert based on their personal qualifications and does not represent his/her original country’s government or organizations.  Currently, there are 14 country positions and 41 human rights positions in the UN Human Rights Council.

The Coordination Committee of Special Procedures Yanghee Lee was selected to be the president of was established to maximize the function of Special Procedures in 2005.  The committee is responsible for increasing the independence and efficiency of mandate holders and acting as a bridge between the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), UN Human Rights Framework, and civil society.  The Coordination Committee is composed of 6 mandate holders of Special Procedures.  It has recently been important for the development of the UN Human Rights Council and has been generating dialogue and cooperation between them.