Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women to visit OPT- Press release

SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN TO VISIT OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

Yakin Ertürk, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on violence against women, its causes and consequences, will visit the occupied Palestinian territories from 13 to 18 June 2004. Mrs. Ertürk aims to gather first-hand information on the question of violence against women during times of conflict.

The Special Rapporteur is scheduled to visit Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza strip. During the visit she will meet with representatives of the Israeli Government, the Palestinian Authority, non-governmental organizations, women’s organizations and individuals engaged in human rights work, as well as with United Nations officials.

After the visit, Mrs. Ertürk will present a report with her findings and recommendations to the sixty-first session of the Commission on Human Rights in 2005.

Mrs. Ertürk, Professor of Sociology at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, was appointed Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights in 2003. For more information about the mandate of the Special Rapporteur and copies of available reports, please consult the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/7/b/women/ 

For more information about the visit, please contact OHCHR on +41 22 917 92 42, press-info@ohchr.org.

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