UNITED NATIONS – Chinese authorities put several dissidents under house arrest as the U.N. human rights commissioner, Louise Arbour, arrived in Beijing yesterday for discussions with the country’s communist leaders.

Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo told the Washington-based China Information Center that he, along with two other dissidents, were placed under house arrest as the Geneva-based commissioner arrived for a five-day visit.

A dozen armed policemen and a police van have been stationed near his house since Ms. Arbour and her team arrived, Mr. Liu told the CIC. He said that political theorist Zhang Zuhua and a dissident known only by her cyber-handle, Li Di, or “Stainless Steel Mouse,” were “in the same situation” as he was.

Ms. Arbour was not available for comment last night, according to a U.N. spokeswoman, Marie Okabe. The commissioner arrived in Beijing yesterday for a mission that is set to include meetings with President Hu and China’s ministers of justice and foreign affairs. Today, Ms. Arbour is expected to carry a message from Secretary-General Annan on the 10th anniversary of the Beijing Conference, which hailed the rights of women in the world.

According to the message Ms. Arbour is expected to read in Beijing, that conference “was a milestone in international efforts to improve the status of women and achieve gender equality worldwide.” The Canadian-born commissioner also is expected to discuss the regime’s ratification of the international covenant on civil and political rights, and advance agreements on human rights that were reached between the communist government and her U.N. predecessor, Mary Robinson.

This is Ms. Arbour’s first visit to Beijing, and the eighth by a U.N. human rights commissioner. In addition to government officials, according to the United Nations, she is expected to meet the president of the Supreme People’s court, NGO members, academics, and foreign diplomats. But as they did on the eve of a March visit by Secretary of State Rice and other sensitive visits, the Chinese authorities were quick to assure that dissidents will not be among those who have any contact with the commissioner.

The Beijing offices of the American-funded Empowerment and Rights Institute were raided yesterday by plainclothes and uniformed police officers, according to the International Herald Tribune. The group’s director, Hou Wenzhuo, told the New York Times that she wanted to present evidence she collected about human rights abuses to Ms. Arbour.