UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to arrive in Russia

MOSCOW, February 13 (Itar-Tass) - The UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights Navi Pillay will arrive in Russia on Sunday. She will visit Moscow and St. Petersburg to discuss human rights issues and the development of civil society in Russia.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says the main aim of Pillay's trip is to strengthen cooperation with Russia in the field of human rights.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will receive Navi Pillay on February 15.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights will also have meetings with several Russian ministers, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Health and Social Development Tatyana Golikova, Regional Development Minister Viktor Basargin, Chairman of the Russian Supreme Court Vyacheslav Lebedev and Chairman of the Russian Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin.
Pillay is expected to meet Mikhail Fedotov, the chairman of the
Council for Human Rights set up under the Russian president. She will
visit the Russian State Duma, deliver speeches at the Moscow State
Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and the Russian University of the Friendship of Peoples.
Navi Pillay is scheduled to have plenty of meetings with civil society and human rights activists to discuss various subjects related to human rights, including discrimination, access to justice, supremacy of the law, women's rights, migration and the rights of invalids.
Navanthem Pillay, a South African citizen and the former International Criminal Court judge, will pay her first visit to Russia in her new capacity.
Moscow regards this visit as an important step towards strengthening Russia's interaction with international institutes and mechanisms for human rights which, in turn, will contribute further development of human rights culture in Russian society.