His years as High Commissioner were marked by a continuous effort to give greater visibility to the United Nations human rights programme.

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.

[3] During the 48th session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1993, he chaired the working group responsible for the implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, which had been adopted at the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993.

One of the recommendations of the Vienna Conference had been the establishment of the post of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

He also served also as Ecuadorian Ambassador to the European Economic Communities, to France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Peru and the Vatican.