UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON RIGHT TO FOOD TO VISIT MONGOLIA

12 August 2004



Jean Ziegler, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on the right to food, will undertake a mission to Mongolia from 14 to 24 August 2004, at the invitation of the Government. The objective of the mission is to study the extent of the realization of the right to food in the country.

The Special Rapporteur plans to meet with senior officials from different Ministries as well as with representatives of United Nations agencies working in the country, international development cooperation agencies, human rights and development non-governmental organizations and civil society groups. Mr Ziegler will also visit three interior provinces: Selenge in the north and Dundgobi and Umnugobi in the south.

The Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the Commission in 2000 in order to respond fully to the need for an integrated and coordinated approach in the promotion and protection of the right to food, enshrined in article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Mr. Ziegler’s mandate was renewed in 2003 for another three years.

Mr. Ziegler is expected to present a report on his visit to Mongolia to the 2005 session of the Commission.