UN rights team meets various sectors

A United Nations human rights mission that arrived early this week in Cote d'Ivoire to assess the human rights situation in the country met on Thursday with representatives of civil society and women's organisations, human rights experts and the diplomatic corps. The mission, which was requested by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, is led by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bertrand Ramcharan. So far, it has met the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Defence, and Commerce, the acting Minister of Human Rights, the UN Country teams and human rights organisations, UN News reported. This weekend, it plans to visit the capital, Yamoussoukro, western Cote d'Ivoire and the rebel-held north. "The mission will thus have met with a full cross-section, ranging from government, political leaders, human rights organisations, women's organisations, rebel leaders and the diplomatic community," Ramcharan was quoted as saying. The mission, which includes a forensic expert, plans to visit the sites of mass graves if possible. It returns to Geneva on Monday. On 12 December a UN human rights expert, Asma Jahangir, expressed concern about reports of extrajudicial executions in Cote d'Ivoire. She noted that both government and armed groups had reportedly engaged in extrajudicial executions of civilians, and that several mass graves had been identified recently, according to reports by international human rights organisations and the media. For recent documents on human rights violations in Cote d'Ivoire visit: http://web.amnesty.org/web/wire.nsf/December2002/Coted'Ivoire http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/cotedivoire/