UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Colombia, 15-21 April

GENEVA (14 April 2015)  – The UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Flavia Pansieri, will begin an official visit to Colombia on Wednesday to discuss the human rights situation in the country with authorities, human rights defenders, victims of human rights violations, representatives of civil society, ethnic communities and the international community.

During her visit, the Deputy High Commissioner will visit the cities of Puerto Asís and Mocoa in the Putumayo Department and Popayán in the Cauca Department. In these three locations, Pansieri will meet with representatives of indigenous, Afro-Colombian and campesino communities, women’s organizations and local authorities. While there, the Deputy High Commissioner will witness first-hand how these communities exercise their rights in their daily lives.  

In Bogota, Pansieri will meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Interior, the Minister-Counsellor on Post-conflict, the Presidential Human Rights Advisor, the High Commissioner for Peace, the Minister of Defence and the National Ombudsman. She will also meet the Director of the Land Restitution Unit, the Direct of the Victims’ Unit, the National Police Director, the Vice-Attorney General and the Executive Director of the National Federation of Municipal Ombudsperson’s Offices.

Pansieri will also convene meetings with human rights defenders, victims of human rights violations, members of the Agrarian Summit (Cumbre Agraria, Campesina, Étnica y Popular) and other civil society representatives. The Deputy High Commissioner will also meet with representatives of the international community.

At the end of her visit, the Deputy High Commissioner will hold a press conference to present the conclusions of the visit. The press conference will take place on Tuesday, 21 April at 10 am in the OHCHR Colombia office in Bogota: Calle 113 No. 7-45, Torre B, Oficina 1101, Edificio Teleport Business Park, 4ª.

At request of the Government, the UN Human Rights Office was established in Colombia in 1996 with the mandate of monitoring human rights and providing technical cooperation. The mandate of the Office has been extended several times; the last renewal took place in October 2014, when the Minister of Foreign Affairs requested the Office's presence until 31 October 2016.

ENDS    

For more information on the work of OHCHR in Colombia, see OHCHR-Colombia website http://www.hchr.org.co/

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

For more information and media enquiries, please contact:
In Colombia:
Diana Losada: (+57 1) 658 3300 Ext. 1109 / dlosada@hchr.org.co
In Geneva:
Ravina Shamdasani (+41 22 917 9169 / rshamdasani@ohchr.org) or Cécile Pouilly (+41 22 917 9310 / cpouilly@ohchr.org).

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