Continuation of Richard Schifter as an Assistant Secretary of State

The President today announced that Richard Schifter will continue to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs.

Since 1985 Mr. Schifter has been the Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. He is a member of the board of directors of the U.S. Institute of Peace and serves as the Department of State representative on the Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He also served as Deputy United States Representative in the Security Council of the United Nations, with the rank of Ambassador, 1984 - 1985, and as the U.S. member of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, 1983 - 1986. Prior to this Mr. Schifter was a practicing attorney in Washington, DC.

Mr. Schifter graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1943 and received his LL.B. from Yale Law School in 1951. He served in the U.S. Army, 1943 - 1946. He was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1923. He is married and has five children and eight grandchildren.