The 54th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights will meet from 16 March to 24 April 1998. This document describes the concerns that the organization will raise as a matter of priority. This year AI is calling on the Commission to act in particular on five countries which present a pattern of persistent, systematic and severe violations of human rights. These are: Cambodia, Colombia, Kenya, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. AI will also pay particular attention to the following themes at the Commission: the human rights of refugees, abolition of the death penalty, the draft Declaration on human rights defenders, the human rights of women, the review of the Vienna Declaration and the Programme of Action and the 50th anniversary of the UDHR.