HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS TO VISIT RUSSIAN FEDERATION

17 February 2006

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour will visit the Russian Federation, including the Northern Caucasus region, from 19 to 25 February.

Following arrival in Moscow and meetings with United Nations representatives, the High Commissioner will travel on Monday, 20 February, to Nazran, in the Republic of Ingushetia, where she will meet with Ingush President Murat M. Zyazikov. The High Commissioner will also visit the Gamurzievo camp for internally-displaced persons (IDPs) and hold talks with non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

On 21 February Mrs. Arbour will visit Grozny, in the Chechen Republic. There she will meet with, among other senior officials, President Alu Alkhanov and acting Prime Minister Ramzan Kadirov.

The High Commissioner will be in Beslan in the Republic of North Ossetia on Wednesday, 22 February. Mrs. Arbour will visit of School No. 1, the site of the attack in September 2004 and visit a psychological rehabilitation centre in Vladikavkaz for victims of that assault. She will also meet with Taimuraz Mamsurov, Head of the Republic of North Ossetia. Later in the day the High Commissioner is scheduled to meet with Dimitry Kozak, Special Representative of the Russian President in the Southern Federal District.

In Moscow on 23 February, the High Commissioner is scheduled to meet with President Vladimir Putin. Talks are also set with Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov and Minister of Interior Rashid Nurgaliev. In the Russian capital the High Commissioner will also meet Vladimir Lukin, Ombudsman of the Russian Federation, and Ella Pamfilova, Chairperson of the Presidential Council on assistance to the development of civil society structures and human rights.

The official visit will conclude in St. Petersburg, where the High Commissioner will meet with civil society organizations, as well as with Governor Valentina Matvienko.


This is the High Commissioner's second visit to Russia. At the end of her first mission to the country last February, the High Commissioner and the Russian Government agreed on the establishment of a presence of her Office -- the OHCHR -- in Moscow. Final preparations on setting up that presence are underway.

Media Advisory: The High Commissioner will hold a news conference on 25 February at 4 p.m. at the headquarters of the Interfax News Agency. For more information please contact José Luis Díaz, (+41 79) 217 3009, jdiaz@ohchr.org; the UN Information Centre in Moscow, tel. (+7495) 241 28 94, or Victoria Zotikova, Communications Officer, UN Office in Russia, tel: (+7495)787 21 15



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