Nomination of Richard Schifter To Be an Assistant Secretary of State

The President today announced his intention to nominate Richard Schifter to be Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. He would succeed Elliott Abrams.

Mr. Schifter is a partner in the law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Kampelman in Washington, DC. Since 1981 he has been serving as U.S. Representative to the United Nations Commission for Human Rights. He was Deputy U.S. Representative in the Security Council of the United Nations with the rank of Ambassador in 1984-1985; Alternate Representative for the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1981-1982; United States Representative, Committee on Conventions and Recommendations, UNESCO, in 1981-1982; and a member of the President's Task Force on American Indians in 1966-1967. He has been a member of the United States Holocaust Council since 1980.

Mr. Schifter graduated from the College of the City of New York (B.S., 1943) and Yale Law School (LL.B., 1951). He is married, has five children, and resides in Bethesda, MD. He was born July 31, 1923, in Vienna, Austria.