Iraq: UN envoy discusses improving human rights

Top United Nations envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, back in Baghdad after updating the Security Council on the situation in Iraq, met with a visiting team from Human Rights Watch today to discuss ways of improving human rights in the country.

The meeting was part of a wide-ranging series of meetings Mr. Vieira de Mello, Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative for Iraq, has been having with a full spectrum of Iraqi figures, leaders of neighbouring countries, UN relief agencies and non-government organizations as he assesses how best the UN can help restore Iraqi sovereignty and end the occupation.

In his statement to the Security Council last Tuesday, Mr. Vieira de Mello said there had to be a clear timetable, laid out as soon as possible, for the earliest possible restoration of the country’s sovereignty. “Iraqis need to know that the current state of affairs will come to an end soon. They need to know that stability will return and that the occupation will end,” he told the 15-member body.