SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN TO UNDERTAKE FIELD VISIT TO STUDY SITUATION IN AFGHANISTAN

HR/99/80
27 August 1999



The Special Rapporteur on violence against women of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Radhika Coomaraswamy, will visit Pakistan and Afghanistan next week.

During the mission, set to last from 1 to 12 September, Ms. Coomaraswamy intends to collect first-hand information from a wide range of sources in order to better assess the situation in Afghanistan and evaluate allegations of human-rights violations relevant to her mandate.

In Pakistan, the Special Rapporteur plans to go to Islamabad, Peshawar, Kuetta and Lahore. In Afghanistan, if security conditions permit it, she expects to go to Kabul, Fayzabad, Bamyan and Herat. Ms. Coomaraswamy will meet with local authorities, representatives of women's organizations, academics and victims of violations. She will also meet with officials of United Nations agencies and other organizations working on issues related to violence against women.

This will be the Special Rapporteur's second field mission of 1999. Earlier this year she visited Cuba and Haiti.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights created the post of Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, in March 1994. Ms. Coomaraswamy, a lawyer and long-time women's rights advocate from Sri Lanka, has served as Special Rapporteur since her appointment then.