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GENEVA (18 May 2012) – The United Nations Working Group on the use of mercenaries will visit Libya from 21 to 25 May 2012 to assess allegations of the use of mercenaries in the recent conflict, and the measures taken by the Government to address this phenomenon in its aftermath. This fact-finding mission will be the first ever to the country by independent experts designated by the UN Human Rights Council.

GENEVA / BAKU (14 May 2012) – United Nations Special Rapporteur Anand Grover will visit Azerbaijan from 16 to 23 May 2012 to assess issues related to the realization of the right to health in the country, including specific human rights dimensions of health financing, tuberculosis (TB), and health care in prisons and detention centres.

Kinshasa/New York (10 May 2012): Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonović has raised alarm over the recent upsurge in violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“The human rights situation in the DRC is of grave concern. The activities of armed groups, particularly the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and Mayi Mayi, constitute a major threat to the civilian population especially in the Kivus,” he stated today in Kinshasa at the conclusion of his nine-day visit to the country.

TUNIS / GENEVA (9 May 2012) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Kishore Singh, today urged* the Tunisian Government to keep the country’s rendezvous with history by placing human rights and the right to education at the heart of the historic reforms taking place in Tunisia.

GENEVA (2 May 2012) – The United Nations Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, Shamsul Bari, today urged the Somali authorities and the international community to re-establish a legitimate justice system in Mogadishu and South Central Somalia. “Strengthening access to justice and rule of law in the country is crucial to protect and promote the fundamental rights of the Somali people,” Mr. Bari said after his eighth field visit from 15 to 25 April 2012.

The Commission of Inquiry on Syria welcomes the arrival in Damascus last night of an advanced team of observers in line with United Nations Security Council resolution 2042 on 14 April authorizing the team to monitor the ceasefire announced on 12 April.

GENEVA (30 March 2012) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana, said that Myanmar’s by-elections on 1 April will be a key test of progress made by the Government in its process of reform. In the coming polls, 48 parliamentary seats will be contested.