Top UN rights official heading to US for talks with Bush

The United Nations human rights chief is heading this week to the United States, where he will meet with President George W. Bush and top administration officials for talks on a host of issues, including human rights in the Middle East.

In his first US visit as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello is scheduled to be in Washington D.C., tomorrow, to meet first with US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice before holding talks with President Bush.

According to a UN spokesman, Mr. Vieira de Mello's discussions are expected to focus on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, terrorism and Iraq. He is also expected to discuss the link between human rights and peacekeeping, and the forthcoming session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, which begins on 17 March in Geneva.