INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFGHANISTAN TO VISIT COUNTRY FROM 31 JANUARY TO 6 FEBRUARY

INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFGHANISTAN TO VISIT

COUNTRY FROM 31 JANUARY TO 6 FEBRUARY

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 31 January (UN Information Service) -- Cherif Bassiouni, the Independent Expert on Human Rights in Afghanistan, will conduct an official mission to that country from 31 January to 6 February 2005.

During the course of the mission, he intends to hold meetings with representatives of civil society.  He will also undertake a field mission to Mazar-i-Sharif, where he will meet with local officials and the main actors working for the promotion and protection of human rights in the province.

The Independent Expert will present a report on his mission to the Commission on Human Rights at its sixty-first session.

The mandate of the Independent Expert is to develop, in 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.

The Independent Expert’s previous mission took place from 14 to 22 August 2004.  It was followed by a report to the General Assembly’s Third Committee on 28 October 2004 (U.N. Doc. A/59/370 (21 September 2004)).

The Independent Expert will hold a press conference on 5 February at UNAMA.

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