Earlier this week, the headlines in India were dominated by a little-known UN organisation. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had announced its intention to file an intervention plea in the Supreme Court against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
The ministry of external affairs responded by declaring that no foreign party had any locus standi on issues pertaining to Indian sovereignty.
The decision of the OHCHR to approach the Supreme Court over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act has invited loud criticism. It has also brought into the focus the organisation's head, High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.
Michelle Bachelet became the seventh high commissioner of the OHCHR in September 2018. She was also Chile's president twice (2006-2010 and 2014-2018) and is the first woman to occupy the post.
Persecuted by Pinochet
A trained surgeon, Michelle Bachelet came from a family that suffered torture from the regime of general Augusto Pinochet, the military dictator of Chile from 1973 to 1990. Pinochet had come to power by overthrowing the leftwing government of Salvador Allende in 1973.
The overthrow of the Allende government is considered a watershed in the history of South America. While the Pinochet government was credited with bringing stability and economic growth to Chile, it had a reputation for torturing its opponents. In September 2013, Amnesty International reported, “The total number of people officially recognised as disappeared in Chile or killed between 1973 and 1990 stands at over 3,000 and survivors of political imprisonment and/or torture at around 40,000.”
Michelle's father, Alberto Bachelet, was a brigadier general in the Chilean Air Force, who opposed the 1973 coup by Pinochet. He was imprisoned and died in prison in 1974. In 2012, two former military officers were charged in Chile for torturing Alberto Bachelet, leading to his death.
Michelle Bachelet was arrested in January 1975 with her mother by the secret police of Pinochet. she was just 20 then. Michelle Bachelet claimed she was tortured by interrogators. She was quoted by Germany's Deutsche Welle as saying "They put a hood over my head, threatened me and hit me. But I was spared the grill." The 'grill' was the name given to a frame used for giving electrical shocks.
Later in 1975, Michelle Bachelet fled to Australia as a political refugee. She then moved to the erstwhile German Democratic Republic (also known as East Germany). Michelle Bachelet returned to Chile in 1979, but was not allowed to practise medicine in Chile till the end of the Pinochet regime in 1990.
Political rise
A socialist, her political ascent began in 2000 when she became the health minister of Chile. Michelle Bachelet attracted praise for reforms to the health, education and welfare systems. But her second term as president was overshadowed by a corruption scandal involving her son, which hit her popularity.
In September 2019, Michelle Bachelet got drawn into a spat with Jair Bolsonaro, the outspoken rightwing president of Brazil. Bachelet had criticised rising incidents of police killings in Brazil, following which Bolsonaro brought up the killing of her father and even claimed Chile would have become like Cuba if it were not for the coup by Pinochet.
“... Michelle Bachelet, if Pinochet’s people had not defeated the left in 73—among them your father—Chile would be a Cuba today," Bolsonaro had claimed.
In March 2019, Michelle Bachelet had warned India "divisive policies could undermine economic growth" and referred to increased harassment and targeting of minorities such as Muslims, dalits and Adivasis.