Dunja Mijatovic has become the new Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Dmytro Kuleba has said.

"Dunja Mijatovic is the new Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. I wish her success in her office," Kuleba wrote on his Twitter page on Wednesday, January 24.

"I expect from her principled and active work on the protection of human rights in occupied Crimea and Donbas and the release of our political prisoners in Russia," he added.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's representative, Dunja Mijatovic, was elected the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) reported on Twitter.

"Warm congratulations to Dunja_Mijatovic from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who has just been elected by the Assembly as the CoE's new Commissioner for Human Rights! She will serve a six-year term, beginning in April," the PACE said.

Mijatovic obtained 107 of the votes cast in the second round, a relative majority. Pierre-Yves Le Borgn' (France) obtained 103 votes and Goran Klemencic (Slovenia) obtained 19 votes.

Mijatovic will replace Nils Muiznieks, who has held the post since 2012. Muiznieks' powers officially expire on April 1, 2018.

The Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent and impartial non-judicial institution established in 1999 by the Council of Europe to promote awareness of and respect for human rights in the 47 Council of Europe member States, identify possible shortcomings in the law and practice concerning human rights, and facilitate the activities of national ombudsperson institutions and other human rights structures.

From 2010 to 2017, Mijatovic was the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. Previously, she served as Director of Broadcasting at the Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CRA). She was also the Chairperson of the European Platform of Media Regulatory Authorities (EPRA) and she chaired the Council of Europe's Group of Specialists on freedom of expression and information in times of crisis. She has been awarded several prizes for her work in the field of human rights.