Switzerland: Ban Meets With Human Rights Official

Ban meets with UN human rights officials at start of two-day trip to Switzerland

17 November 2008 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has arrived in Switzerland for the start of a two-day visit that includes talks with the United Nations’ top human rights officials and a meeting with his many envoys and representatives worldwide.

Mr. Ban met first in Geneva with Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the regional heads of her Office’s (OHCHR) field presences, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters today.

This afternoon he headed to the nearby town of Montreux to participate in an annual seminar with his numerous Special and Personal Representatives and Envoys.

Tomorrow the Secretary-General is slated to meet Francis Gurry, the new Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva, and hold a town-hall meeting with the agency’s staff.

Later he will attend the inauguration of the newly renovated Human Rights Council and Alliance of Civilizations Room at the Palais des Nations, the UN complex in Geneva, along with Spain’s King Juan Carlos II, Queen Sofia and Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdooan.

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