Bangkok--27 Nov--UNISBKK
Thematic Lecture and Panel Discussion featuring UN Special Rapporteur Asma Jahangir
Tuesday, 1 December 2009 at the UN Conference Centre, Bangkok
In celebration of Human Rights Day 2009, the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) Regional Office for South-East Asia is organizing a Thematic Lecture and Panel Discussion on the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council and their contribution to the Universal Periodic Review Process with Ms. Asma Jahangir, UN Special Rapporteur and Member of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures, as keynote speaker on Tuesday, 1 December, from 9:30 am to 12:00 pm., at the Public Foyer of the UN Conference Centre in Bangkok.
Ms. Jahangir, a human rights lawyer based in Pakistan, was appointed Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief in July 2004.
The panel discussion will bring together human rights experts including Mr. Homayoun Alizadeh, OHCHR Regional Representative; Ms. Mara Bustelo, Coordinator of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Unit of the Special Procedures Division, OHCHR; and Dr. Sriprapha Petcharamesree,
Representative of Thailand on the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).
Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December. It commemorates the day in 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This year’s Human Rights Day focuses on ending discrimination. “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. These first few famous words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights established 61 years ago the basic premise of international human rights law. Yet today, the fight against discrimination remains a daily struggle for millions around the globe.
“No country is free of discrimination. We see it everywhere, in many forms: old and new, covert and blatant, public and private,” says UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his message on Human Rights Day. “We must continue to confront inequality and intolerance wherever they are found.”
“Our main objective is to help promote discrimination-free societies and a world of equal treatment for all,” says UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.
NOTE TO EDITORS: You or your representatives are cordially invited to attend the Thematic Lecture and the Panel Discussion on the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council and their contribution to the Universal Periodic Review Process.