UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Africa

GENEVA – The United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Kyung-wha Kang, will visit Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia from 25 to 29 May 2008 to underscore the centrality of human rights in the efforts for reconciliation and reconstruction in the two countries.

In Côte d’Ivoire, the Deputy High Commissioner will meet with senior governmental officials, representatives of the diplomatic corps, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Côte d’Ivoire, as well as the UN Country Team. The meetings will address the challenges relating to the protection and promotion of human rights. Ms. Kang will hold a press briefing on Tuesday, 27 May 2008 at the Headquarters of the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) before travelling the same day to Liberia, the second step of her visit to West Africa.

In Liberia, the Deputy High Commissioner will meet, among other actors, with national authorities, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, local and international partners and civil society organizations to discuss human rights issues such as impunity and sexual gender-based violence. She will also carry out a field visit. Ms. Kang will end her mission with a press briefing on Thursday 29 May at the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) headquarters.

This is the second visit of the Deputy High Commissioner to West Africa taking up her post in January 2007. She carried out a first mission to Dakar in December 2007, during which she signed an agreement with the Senegalese Government to establish the OHCHR Regional Office for West Africa.

A national of Korea, Ms. Kang was appointed in September 2006 to serve as Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights with the level of UN Assistant Secretary-General. Prior to this appointment, she was General Director of International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea. Her responsibilities included issues relevant to the United Nations, including human rights. Ms. Kang was also a representative of her country to the United Nations in New York.