President of Chile: The Americas Are Stronger Together
The Americas as a whole have much to gain from partnership rather than confrontation or mutual neglect.
Michelle Bachelet
Chile | Former High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations
Former President of Chile
Michelle Bachelet is the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the former president of Chile. She has served as co-chair of the Board of Directors at the Dialogue. Imprisoned and tortured under the Pinochet dictatorship, Bachelet was released into exile in 1975, living in Australia before moving to East Germany, where she studied at the Humboldt University of Berlin. In 1979, she returned to Chile and completed her medical degree. After Pinochet was ousted from power in 1990, Bachelet became active in politics, particularly in the medical and military fields. In 1994, she was appointed an adviser to Chile’s minister for health and elected to the central committee of the Socialist Party. In 2000, Bachelet was appointed minister of health. Two years later, she was reappointed minister of defense, becoming the first woman to hold that position. Bachelet was elected the first female president of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2014 to 2018. Between her presidential terms, Bachelet was an undersecretary general of the United Nations. In August of 2018, she was nominated by the UN Secretary-General as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She officially took office in September of 2018, becoming the seventh person to assume the position until she left in August of 2022.
Bachelet joined the Dialogue as a member in 2010. She is the former co-chair of the Dialogue’s Board of Directors.
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Beyond Equal Rights
Women’s political and economic participation strengthens democracy, equality and the economy.
