His first important challenge was to give contours to his mandate and establish the credibility of the Office . Barely appointed , he had to address the crisis caused by the genocide in Rwanda . His years as High Commissioner were marked by a continuous effort to give greater visibility to the United Nations human rights programme . Thus , he opened field offices in all regions of the world and travelled extensively to confer with leaders worldwide . His vision was to transform the former Centre for Human Rights from a passive conference-services secretariat into a pro-active centre of excellence with an expert secretariat and an expanded mandate to conduct projects throughout the world . Under his leadership the office should develop an operational capacity similar to that of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees . His priorities were crisis management , prevention and early warning , assistance to States in transition to democracy , the right to development , and the expansion of national human rights institutions . As an administrator . he is remembered fondly by the staff because of his openness and kindness . Less successful were the efforts at restructuring , primarily because of the failure of the UN General Assembly to approve an adequate budget for the Office
genocide in Rwanda
Rwandan genocide
José Ayala Lasso