UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Moldova

GENEVA/CHISINAU (7 April 2014) – UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Flavia Pansieri will undertake an official visit to the Republic of Moldova from 8 to 11 April to encourage the momentum towards positive human rights developments in the country.

Pansieri will visit Chisinau, where she will meet with the President, the Prime Minister and other high-ranking Government officials, as well as with civil society representatives, the UN country team and members of the international community.

During her visit, Pansieri will also participate in the Fourth francophone seminar on the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova and co-organized by the UN Human Rights Office and the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. This seminar will provide a platform for the exchange of experience and best practices in the implementation of recommendations from the UPR and other human rights mechanisms.

The Deputy High Commissioner will also visit Tiraspol, where she will also follow up on the implementation of recommendations related to human rights by the UN, as well as on UN Senior Expert Thomas Hammarberg's 2013 report on human rights in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova.

In Chisinau, Pansieri will also attend the launch of an anti-discrimination project, named Support for Civil Society in Combating Discrimination, led by the UN Human Rights Office and supported by the European Union.

Pansieri is the most senior UN human rights official to visit the country since the mission to Moldova by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in November 2011.

The Deputy High Commissioner will hold a press conference at the end of her visit, on Friday April 11 at 11h00 at UN House, 131 Str. 31 August 1989 in Chisinau.

ENDS

UN Human Rights, Country Page – Moldova: http://www.ohchr.org/en/countries/moldova

Learn more about the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/AboutUs/Pages/DeputyHighCommissioner.aspx

For further information and media enquiries, please contact:
In Chisinau: Claude Cahn (+373 22 269 104 / (mobile): +373 685 75 155, claude.cahn@one.un.org, ccahn@ohchr.org

In Geneva: Rupert Colville (+ 41 22 917 9767 / rcolville@ohchr.org), Ravina Shamdasani (+41 22 917 9169 / rshamdasani@ohchr.org) or Cécile Pouilly (+41 22 917 9310 / cpouilly@ohchr.org).

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