SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON TORTURE TO TRAVEL TO UZBEKISTAN ON FACT-FINDING MISSION

22 November 2002



The Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on the question of torture, Theo van Boven, will be undertaking a fact-finding mission to Uzbekistan from 24 November to 6 December 2002 at the invitation of the Government.

The Special Rapporteur has requested to meet with, among other Uzbek officials, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Defence, the Minister of Interior, the President of the Supreme Court, the General Procurator, the Heads of the Police and Prison Services, the Head of the National Security Service, the Ombudsperson and the Director of the National Human Rights Centre of Uzbekistan. He will also meet with various non-governmental organizations and with private individuals.

The Special Rapporteur is scheduled to visit Tashkent, the Ferghana Valley, Urgench, as well as the Karshi and Navoi regions, where he will meet local public officials and representatives of civil society, as well as visit various places of detention.

Mr. van Boven was first appointed Special Rapporteur in 2001; his mandate was extended by resolution 2001/62 of the Commission on Human Rights in 2001 for a further three years. This is the first fact-finding mission that he will carry out in his capacity as Special Rapporteur on torture. Mr. van Boven is a Professor of Law at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands and Member of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery.




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