UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Guatemala, 18-22 May 2014

GENEVA (16 May) – The UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Flavia Pansieri, will begin on Sunday an official visit to Guatemala to consolidate the technical cooperation and advisory services that the UN Human Rights Office provides in the country.

During her visit, Pansieri will meet President Otto Pérez Molina, as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of the Interior and the President of the Presidential Human Rights Commission. The Deputy High Commissioner will also meet members of the Congress and the Human Rights Ombudsman. She will hold meetings with human rights defenders, indigenous authorities, members of the international community and the United Nations System.

Pansieri will travel to Izabal to meet with indigenous women who were victims of sexual violence during the internal armed conflict, as well as with representatives of indigenous organizations participating in the Maya Programme, an initiative that promotes strategic litigation on the rights of indigenous peoples. A visit to the Federico Mora National Mental Health Hospital, in Guatemala City, is included in her agenda.

The Deputy High Commissioner will hold a press conference at the end of her visit, on Thursday, 22 May at 11:00 a.m. in the OHCHR Guatemala office, 4a. Av. 12-48 zona 10, Guatemala City.

At request of the Government, the UN Human Rights Office was established in the country in 2005 with the mandate of monitoring human rights and providing technical cooperation. The mandate of the office was last renewed in March 2014, when the Minister of Foreign Affairs requested the Office´s presence until September 2017.

ENDS

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

Learn more about the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights: http://www.ohchr.org/en/about-us/deputy-high-commissioner/nada-al-nashif

For more information and media enquiries, please contact:
In Guatemala:
Estela Morales: (502) 5632-2261 / emorales@ohchr.org.gt
In Geneva:
Ravina Shamdasani (+41 22 917 9169 / rshamdasani@ohchr.org) or Cécile Pouilly (+41 22 917 9310 / cpouilly@ohchr.org).

For more information on the work of OHCHR in Guatemala, see OHCHR-Guatemala website (http://www.ohchr.org.gt/)

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