Robinson moved to Geneva with husband, Nicholas, and their three children in September of 1997 after being appointed to the post of High Commissioner of Human Rights by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The commission had been created four years earlier but saw its credibility suffer through crises in Rwanda.

According to Joshua Rubenstine, Northeast regional director of Amnesty International, the previous director Jose Ayala-Lasso's response to the Rwanda genocide had been a "disaster." More than 500,000 people died in the spring 1994 slaughter.

Robinson came into office pledging to revitalize the agency and move human rights to the forefront of the international agenda.

"She wants to see the whole U.N. system driven by human rights, as it should be," says John Mills, Robinson's spokesperson in Geneva.

Since taking office, Robinson has traveled to dozens of hot spots around the globe, including Iran and Cambodia.

Observers of the United Nations say it is too early to judge Robinson's performance as high commissioner, but praise her for working to raise awareness for human rights issues in the U.N. as a whole, particularly on the Security Council.

Rubenstine says human rights are often low on the Council's agenda, but that Robinson had "given the issue greater credibility in U.N. circles."

But Robinson has been forced to change her approach to international diplomacy.

Robinson, who had a "lack of familiarity with diplomatic niceties" according to one European U.N. delegate quoted in the Irish Times, has had to tone down her criticism of individual countries' human rights situations.

Algerian diplomats in particular accused the commissioner of overstepping her authority after she called the human rights situation in Algeria "intolerable."

But that has not stopped her from "speaking candidly on human rights violations" from China to the United States, says Rubenstine.

Robinson has criticized the Chinese government for incidents of random detention and torture, and would like to visit Tibet in her upcoming trip to China in September. China invaded the territory in 1950 and has kept it under a tight grip since a 1959 rebellion.

Robinson also has not shied from criticizing the United States. She joined the Pope in pleading for clemency for Karla Faye Tucker, a convicted murderer who was executed in Texas in February.

She also released a statement in April protesting the increase in the number of executions carried out in the United States.

Rubenstine cautions that while Robinson's reputation and personal credibility may help her force human rights onto the U.N. agenda, he doesn't know "how much to expect from her" given the U.N.'s institutional disposition toward realpolitik.

But Mills says Robinson has experience overcoming resistance and restrictions on her power, and that she can successfully bring a force to bear on world decision makers.

"Constitutionally, the high commissioner, like the president of Ireland, has few powers, but through a combination of leadership and moral voice she is proving to be a force to be reckoned with," he says.