Top UN human rights official to visit Pakistan, Burundi
The top United Nations human rights official is set to travel next week to Pakistan and Burundi for talks with senior officials in both countries and to attend meetings dealing with civil liberties in the Asia-Pacific region.
The top United Nations human rights official is set to travel next week to Pakistan and Burundi for talks with senior officials in both countries and to attend meetings dealing with civil liberties in the Asia-Pacific region.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, will begin on Monday a three-day visit to Pakistan, where he is slated to meet with President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali and other senior officials. He is also expected to meet with representatives from the United Nations and non-governmental organizations in the country.
Mr. Vieira de Mello is also scheduled to deliver a speech in Islamabad on current human rights challenges, and to visit a camp administered by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Peshawar.
On Tuesday in Islamabad, he is expected to inaugurate the 11th workshop on regional cooperation on human rights in the Asia-Pacific Region before leaving the next day for Burundi for a two-day visit.
In other news, Mr. Vieira de Mello yesterday expressed his concern at reports about the killing of 28 Palestinians in recent days in Gaza. “Such indiscriminate use of force in civilian areas can never be justified,” he said.
The High Commissioner also strongly reiterated his call to the Israeli authorities to cease such actions, which, he said, could only damage any possible peace process in the region, and appealed to all parties to refrain from any further violent action.