For information only - not an official document
UNIS/MA/29
20 September 2013
VIENNA/GENEVA, 20 September 2013, (UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) - The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention will undertake its first official visit to Hungary to assess the situation of deprivation of liberty in the country from 23 September to 2 October 2013.
The group of independent experts designated by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate allegations of arbitrary deprivation of liberty will visit various detention facilities, including prisons, police stations, detention centres for migrants and psychiatric institutions. In addition to Budapest, the experts will also visit cities in the counties of Békés, Csongrád and Hajdú-Bihar.
The visit will provide an opportunity to engage with the relevant authorities from the executive, legislative, judicial organs of the State as well as civil society organizations.
The delegation will consist of the Chair-Rapporteur Mr. El Hadji Malick Sow (from Senegal) and Mr. Vladimir Tochilovsky (from Ukraine)*. They will be accompanied by staff from the Working Group's Secretariat at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
A press conference on the preliminary observations of the Working Group will be held at 3.00 p.m. on Wednesday, 2 October 2013 at the Art'otel in Budapest (Bem rakpart 16-19, H-1011 Budapest, Hungary)
The final report of the visit will be presented to the Human Rights Council in 2014.
(*) The other three members of the Working Group are Shaheen Sardar Ali who is the Vice-Chair (from Pakistan), Roberto Garretón (from Chile) and Mads Andenas (from Norway).
***
The former Commission on Human Rights established the Working Group in 1991 to investigate allegations of arbitrary deprivation of liberty. Its mandate was extended in 1997 to cover the issue of the administrative custody of immigrants and asylum-seekers. The Human Rights Council extended the Working Group's mandate for a further three-year period on 30 September 2010. Learn more, visit: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Detention/Pages/WGADIndex.aspx
Database of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: http://www.unwgaddatabase.org/un/
* *** *
For more information and media requests during the mission, please contact:
Miguel
de la Lama
Secretary of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
Telephone: +41 79 444 3993
Email: mdelalama[at]ohchr.org
Jolene
Tautakitaki
Telephone: +41 79 201 01 19
Email: jtautakitaki[at]ohchr.org
or write to wgad[at]ohchr.org
For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts:
Xabier
Celaya
Media Unit, UN Human Rights
Telephone: + 41 22 917 9383
Email: xcelaya[at]ohchr.org
UN Human Rights, follow us on social media:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/unitednationshumanrights
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/UNrightswire
Google+: gplus.to/unitednationshumanrights
YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/UNOHCHR
Storify:
http://storify.com/UNrightswire
Watch "20 years of human rights - the road ahead": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XDHX5fkxFg&feature=share&list=UU3L8u5qG07djPUwWo6VQVLA
