GENEVA – The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Heba Hagrass, will conduct an official visit to Kyrgyzstan from 23 September to 3 October 2024. Hagrass will examine laws, policies and measures the Government is taking to protect and promote the rights of persons with disabilities in the country. The visit is taking place at the invitation of the Government. The expert will travel to Bishkek, Osh, Tokmok, and other areas to meet with Government authorities, national human rights institutions, persons with disabilities and their representative organisations, civil society, UN agencies, and other stakeholders. She will also visit institutions for people with disabilities, including for children, and establishments providing services for persons with disabilities. The Special Rapporteur will hold a press conference on Thursday 3 October at 11.30 a.m. local time at the UN House in Bishkek, 160 Chui Avenue. Access will be strictly limited to journalists. The expert will present her report to the Human Rights Council in March 2025. Heba Hagrass (Egypt) is the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, appointed by the Human Rights Council in October 2023. A sociologist by training, she is an advocate, an international disability consultant, and a researcher on the rights of persons with disabilities with an extensive experience in Egypt, the Arab Region, and worldwide. She was notably a representative of women with disabilities that participated in the drafting of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In Egypt, Ms. Hagrass promoted the rights of persons with disabilities in legislative reforms as Member of Parliament between 2015 and 2020 and served as the Secretary General of the National Council for Disability Affairs. She is a founding member of the Arab Organization of Disabled People where she was active between 1998 and 2008, including as the head of its Women’s Affairs Committee. The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity. UN Human Rights country page: Kyrgyzstan For media enquiries and additional information, please contact Barbora Zamrska at barbora.zamrska@un.org; hrc-sr-disability@un.org or Aiperi Alymbekova aiperi.alymbekova@un.org (Bishkek). For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts, please contact Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org) or John Newland (john.newland@un.org). Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on Twitter @UN_SPExperts.