Havana - Virginia Dandan, Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity at the United Nations, has begun today her working agenda in Cuba with a meeting with representatives of the country''s civil society.

Dandan, who is on an official visit to the Caribbean island in response to an invitation from the Cuban government, will also meet with Deputy Ministers of Education and Higher Education, Cira Piñeiro and Oberto Santin, respectively.

She also expects to visit the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER), to meet with First Vice-President of that institution, Roberto Leon.

According to a report by the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Dandan's agenda in the island will allow her to confirm Cuba's broad and sustained work in solidarity and international cooperation, as well as its contribution to promoting and protecting collective human rights at global level.

Virginia Dandan has an extensive experience in teaching fine arts at the University of the Philippines, her home country, and was a member and the President of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, an area where she is an internationally recognized expert, the text says.