BACKGROUND RELEASE - Human Rights Council to Hold Special Session on Sudan on Friday, 5 November

The Human Rights Council will hold a special session to address the “implications of the ongoing situation in the Republic of the Sudan” on Friday, 5 November starting at 12:30 p.m. CET.

The special session is being convened as per an official request submitted jointly by the United Kingdom, the United States, Norway and Germany.

For a special session to be convened, the support of one-third of the 47 members of the Council – 16 or more – is required. The request was supported by the following States Members of the Council: Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Libya, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Republic of Korea, Ukraine, United Kingdom and Uruguay.

The request was also supported by the following observer States: Albania, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United State. Subsequently, the Secretariat has been informed that Malawi and Portugal have joined the list of States supporting the session.

The list of signatories remains open up to the holding of the special session, and the above list of States is to be considered provisional.

The meeting will take place in a hybrid virtual format at the Palais des Nations in Room 20. It will be webcast live (in six United Nations languages). Due to COVID-19 measures, most interventions will be delivered online; therefore, the media is encouraged to follow the meeting on the webcast.

In connection with this special session, the Council will convene an organizational meeting on Wednesday, 3 November at 5:30 p.m. CET when specific details on the special session and its scenario will be announced. This meeting is also public and will be webcast.

This will be the thirty-second special session of the Council and the fourth in 2021. A complete list of Human Rights Council special sessions is available here.

For use of the information media; not an official record.
English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.

HRC21.152E