NEW HUMAN RIGHTS INTERNET PRESENCE

Press Release
HR/4311
PI/983

NEW HUMAN RIGHTS INTERNET PRESENCE

World Wide Web Site to Be Unveiled on Occasion of Human Rights Day

GENEVA, 3 December (UN Information Service) -- The United Nations Office at Geneva will mark Human Rights Day on Tuesday, 10 December, the forty-eighth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On this occasion, Vladimir Petrovsky, Director-General of the Office, will convey the Human Rights Day message of Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, José Ayala-Lasso, will deliver an address on the anniversary of the Universal Declaration.

The High Commissioner will also present the new United Nations human rights World Wide Web site to representatives of permanent missions, non- governmental organizations and the media.

The new Web site is intended to become the most complete source of information on the Internet concerning United Nations action for the protection and promotion of human rights. It will contain a presentation of human rights activities of the United Nations, including those related to technical cooperation, field operations, the conventional mechanisms (treaty- monitoring bodies), complaints procedures and voluntary trust funds.

The "Treaty Body Database Home Page" is linked with the entries of the conventional mechanisms and will, for the first time, publish all concluding observations on the state of human rights in States parties to the conventions and a wide range of other documents relevant to the treaty bodies. It also contains information on the status of ratifications of the treaties and the reporting status of States parties.

Under "International Human Rights Instruments", users will find the full text of international human rights treaties, declaration and principles. All official United Nations reports and resolutions relevant to human rights issued this year are listed under Other Human Rights Documents; documents issued in 1995 and 1994 will soon be available.

The menu on "International Human Rights Conferences and Meetings" links to United Nations Web sites covering major world conferences of relevance to

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human rights, from the 1990 World Summit on Children and the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, to the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) (June, Istanbul).

Under "General Information", users may view latest news, press releases and recent relevant United Nations publications, get information about international years and decades on specific themes adopted by the General Assembly, upcoming missions of special rapporteurs and the internship programme of the Centre for Human Rights.

Information will initially be available in English; documents in French and, eventually, Spanish will soon be incorporated as well. The Web site address will be made public on Human Rights Day, Tuesday, 10 December.

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