adminto Ms Pillay in October last year.
The High Commissioner will be in Zimbabwe from May 21 to May 25.
“Ms Pillay is coming to this country at the invitation of the Government of Zimbabwe,” he said.
“I extended the invitation during the time that I led our country’s delegation to Geneva (Switzerland) where we presented our national report under the UN Universal Periodic Review Mechanism before the Working Group of the UN Human Rights Council in October last year.
“Following the above mentioned interaction, the High Commissioner formally accepted the invitation and the visit was to have taken place in February this year as agreed, but due to unforeseen commitments on the part of the High Commissioner, she asked to have the visit deferred to future dates mutually convenient to both of us.”
Minister Chinamasa said they then agreed on new dates when he visited Geneva for the second phase of the UPR process.
He said his ministry was working with various stakeholders on the itinerary of the High Commissioner’s visit.
“It is my hope that the High Commissioner will find the visit fruitful and productive,” Minister Chinamasa said.
Some sections of the media have tried to use Ms Pillay’s visit as a tour to investigate so-called human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. They also implied that the visit was Ms Pillay’s initiative to deal with the so-called human rights abuses.
Online Reporter