The Human Rights Fact Sheet series is published by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Office at Geneva. It deals with selected questions of human rights that are under active consideration or are of particular interest. Human Rights Fact Sheets are intended to assist an ever-wider audience in better understanding basic human rights, what the United Nations is doing to promote and protect them, and the international machinery available to help realize those rights. Human Rights Fact Sheets are free of charge and distributed worldwide. Their reproduction in languages other than the official United Nations languages is encouraged provided that no changes are made to the contents and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva is advised by the reproducing organization and given credit as being the source of the material. Enquiries should be addressed to: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations Office at Geneva 8–14, Avenue de la Paix CH–1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland New York Office: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations New York, NY 10017 United States of America Printed at United Nations, Geneva GE.08-41872–July 2008–7,820 72 ISSN 1014-5567