Press Release

Monday, July 10, 2017

New Brunswick Native elected to the United Nations

Fernand de Varennes, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the Université de Moncton, was just elected to the position of Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues at a meeting of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The Saint-Paul New Brunswick native is the first Acadian and person from the Maritime Provinces to be appointed to what is known as a «special procedures mandate» in the international human rights protection organization.

The prestigious three-year appointment will involve encouraging the application of the Declaration on Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities in all Member States of the United Nations.

Amongst other tasks, he will have to examine, supervise, advise and report on minority situations, including to the United Nations’ General Assembly in New York. He will also have to conduct studies and missions in different countries as well as being involved in general promotional activities.

Dean de Varennes’ career spans some twenty years teaching law in Australia. He has also worked on minority issues, language rights and human rights in Ethiopia, the Baltic States, Indonesia, Northern Ireland and many other countries. He is Extraordinary Professor at the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria in South Africa and the author of some 200 publications in thirty languages. He is the recipient of a number of awards, including the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Poland and the Linguapax Prize.



Return to Press release