New 'rights' post at UN filled

UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar has appointed Kurt Herndl, an Austrian, to the newly created post of assistant secretary-general for human rights, Monitor correspondent Louis Wiznitzer reports. Mr. Herndl, who heads the judicial affairs division of Austria's Foreign Office, has long served at UN headquarters as chief of the Security Council division.

He is known to be seriously concerned about the need to defend human rights. ''He will be a tough customer for right-wing and left-wing dictatorships,'' says a diplomat who knows him well.