On Thursday 23 November, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe announced the list of the three candidates for the post of Commissioner for Human Rights.
They are, in alphabetical order, Meglena Kuneva (Bulgaria), Manfred Nowak (Austria) and Michael O'Flaherty (Ireland).
The centrist Meglena Kuneva has served as her country’s Deputy Prime Minister (2014-2017) and Minister of Education (2016-2017).
She was also chief negotiator for Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union, European Commissioner for Consumer Protection (2007-2009) and EU Ambassador to the Council of Europe (2018-2022).
Manfred Nowak and Michael O’Flaherty are human rights lawyers.
The former was Special Rapporteur on Torture for the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
The latter is coming to the end of his term at the head of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, having previously headed the Irish Legal Centre for Human Rights and been a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will elect the new Commissioner for Human Rights from these three candidates during its January 2024 session.
The new Commissioner is due to take up their post on 1 April 2024, at the end of the term of office of the current Commissioner, Dunja Mijatović. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)