{"id":27682,"date":"2016-08-13T01:37:07","date_gmt":"2016-08-13T01:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/dr-congo-denying-visa-to-human-rights-researcher\/"},"modified":"2016-08-13T01:36:47","modified_gmt":"2016-08-13T01:36:47","slug":"dr-congo-denying-visa-to-human-rights-researcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/dr-congo-denying-visa-to-human-rights-researcher\/","title":{"rendered":"DR Congo: Denying visa to human rights researcher \u2018regrettable,\u2019 says UN rights chief"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>{12 August 2016 \u2013 United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra\u2019ad Al Hussein today said that the denial of visa to a human rights researcher in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a regrettable development.}<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[This] does not bode well for civil society space in the run up to the presidential elections,\u201d said Mr. Zeid, according to Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson of his Office (OHCHR).<\/p>\n<p>Last month, the High Commissioner visited the country and had commended its efforts to strengthen human rights. But he also cautioned that some of advances the African country had made may be under threat, especially what he saw as repression against opposition parties in the upcoming elections.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, according to the spokesperson, Mr. Zeid was \u201creassured\u201d by Government officials of their commitment to open up the democratic space, particularly with the President calling for an inclusive national dialogue.<\/p>\n<p>However, the recent denial of visa to the researcher working with the international human rights non-governmental organization, Human Rights Watch, has casted a doubt over the depth of the Government\u2019s commitment, added Ms. Shamdasani.<\/p>\n<p>Noting that it is essential for external observers to be able to work freely to present an independent picture of the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo without fear of reprisals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe urge the Government to promptly review its decision to deny the visa,\u201d she concluded.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-14200 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/08-12-2016zeid.jpg\" alt=\"High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra\u2019ad Al Hussein (centre), on a visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in July 2016.\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>{12 August 2016 \u2013 United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra\u2019ad Al Hussein today said that the denial of visa to a human rights researcher in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a regrettable development.} \u201c[This] does not bode well for civil society space in the run up to the presidential elections,\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[99],"byline":[2611],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-27682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-un-news-centre"],"bylines":[{"id":2611,"name":"UN News Centre","slug":"un-news-centre","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2611,"name":"UN News Centre","slug":"un-news-centre","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27682\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27682"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=27682"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=27682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}