UN human rights expert to visit Myanmar

Jul 25, 2012 4:47am

GENEVA (AP) — A United Nations human rights expert is to visit Myanmar next week on a trip that will allow him to assess progress and recent unrest in the southeast Asian country.

The U.N. said Wednesday that Tomas Ojea Quintana will visit from Jul. 30 to Aug. 4. He will meet government officials, lawmakers, the national human rights commission and others.

He also has requested visits to Rakhine and Kachin states. Coastal Rakhine state was engulfed by a wave of bloody unrest in June, and armed combat continues between the government and the Kachin minority in the north.

Quintana — the U.N.'s human rights expert for Myanmar — previously visited the country in February.

Myanmar's current leadership has instituted liberal reforms after almost five decades of repressive military rule.

Source: Here