MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Prison conditions on UN Commissioner visit to Brazil

United Nations High Commissioner Louise Arbour is expected to address conditions in Brazil's prison system and the Government's efforts to promote and protect human rights during her first visit to the country next week.

Yvon Edoumou of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights told reporters in Geneva Friday that examining prison conditions for inmates is on agenda of Ms. Arbour's 3 to 5 December visit, which will take her to Brasilia, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The Office was aware of the case of two young women who were put into cells with male inmates and were repeatedly raped with the complicity of the police, he said, adding that Ms. Arbour would use that case as an example of a wider issue that plagued the penitentiary system in Brazil. Also during the visit, the High Commissioner is expected to meet with President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and a number of other senior Government officials, as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and members of the UN family. In São Paulo, Ms. Arbour will visit the São Paulo Stock Exchange, including "The Environmental and Social Investment Exchange," an innovative programme initiative by the private sector aimed at supporting social responsibility and human rights projects. While in Rio de Janeiro, she will attend the opening of the South American Human Rights Film Festival and will give a lecture on poverty and human rights at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.