NEWLY APPOINTED INDEPENDENT EXPERT FOR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO TO VISIT THE COUNTRY

20 August 2004


The new Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Titinga Frédéric Pacéré, will undertake his first official mission to the country from 22 August to 2 September 2004.

With this visit, the Independent Expert aims at carry out a first assessment of the current situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He also wishes to establish positive working relations with the Government and with national civil society actors with a view to fulfilling his mandate, that foresees amongst other elements the provision of technical assistance to the Government in the field of human rights.

The Independent Expert is scheduled to visit Kinshasa and Kisangani. He has requested to meet with, among others, the President; the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Justice, Women and Family, and the Interior; the Presidents of the Senate and of the National Assembly; the President of the Supreme Court; the Prosecutor General and members of the judiciary; the President of the Military High Court and the Military Auditeur général; and local authorities.

He also hopes to meet with a broad range of human rights defenders, including representatives of civil society, and with the press and officials of the United Nations and diplomatic missions in the country.

The Independent Expert will present his findings and recommendations in an interim report to the UN General Assembly in New York, at its fifty-ninth session (October 2004), as requested by resolution 2004/84 of the UN Commission on Human Rights.

Mr. Pacéré, a lawyer and a human rights defender from Burkina Faso, was appointed as the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the President of the UN Commission on Human Rights on 26 July 2004.