June 08, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 22, 1428

GENEVA, June 7: The United Nations human rights office on Thursday said it was seeking clarification from Bangladesh over why one of the UN's rights expert had been barred from leaving the country.

Sigma Huda, a Bangladeshi national who serves as the UN's independent Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking, had reportedly been charged under anti-corruption laws, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesman Jose Diaz.

“We have requested clarification from the Bangladeshi authorities regarding the legal proceedings and charges against Ms. Huda,” he said.

Huda was due to address the 47-member UN Human Rights Council at the beginning of its session in Geneva next week.

Diaz said Bangladesh should clarify how these charges can keep Huda from carrying out her duties as a special rapporteur, given the diplomatic privileges and immunities that applied to UN experts on mission.

Earlier, the president of the Human Rights Council, Mexican ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba, said that he could not comment on the reports about Huda because he did not know the facts of the case.

However, he said that in principle rapporteurs should be legally protected to carry out their UN mandate.

“The principle is that the responsibilities of a person holding a UN mandate need to be protected by the legal system, I'm certain that they are,” he told journalists.—AFP