Richard Schifter, U.S. representative to the United Nations Commission for Human Rights since 1981, has been nominated by President-Reagan to be Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. He succeeds Elliott Abrams, who has been named Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs.
The 62-year-old Schifter was also Deputy U.S. Representative to the United Nations Security Council in 1984-85. A Washington lawyer, he has been a member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council since 1980. Born in Vienna, Austria, he is a graduate of the College of the City of New York and Yale Law School.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
