ACTING HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS WELCOMES APPOINTMENT

OF INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON AFGHANISTAN

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 7 April (UN Information Service) -- The Acting United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bertrand Ramcharan, announced today that the Secretary-General has approved the appointment of Professor Cherif Bassiouni as the Independent Expert on human rights in Afghanistan and welcomed this decision.  The appointment is the result of a decision taken by the Commission on Human Rights last year (Resolution 2003/77).

The mandate of the Independent Expert will be to develop, in strict collaboration with the Transitional Authority, including the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, as well as with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), a programme of advisory services to ensure the full respect and protection of human rights and the promotion of the rule of law, and to seek and receive information about and report on the human rights situation in Afghanistan in an effort to prevent human rights violations.

Cherif Bassiouni (Egypt) has a long and acclaimed record in international criminal law and human rights.  A distinguished Research Professor of Law at DePaulUniversity (Chicago, United States), he is also the President of the International Human Rights Law Institute, based in Chicago, of the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences of Siracusa (Italy), and of the International Association of Penal Law (Paris, France).  From 1998 to 2000, he was an independent expert for the Commission on Human Rights on the rights to restitution, compensation and rehabilitation for victims of grave violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and in 1993 he was appointed Chairman of the United Nations Commission to Investigate International Humanitarian Law Violations in the Former Yugoslavia.  The author of numerous books on international criminal law, comparative criminal law and human rights, Professor Bassiouni is internationally renowned for his lifelong work to establish an International Criminal Court.

The High Commissioner warmly congratulates the new Independent Expert, and is convinced that he will make an important contribution to the cause of human rights in Afghanistan.

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