HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL HOLDS NINTH REGULAR SESSION FROM 8 TO 26 SEPTEMBER

The Human Rights Council will hold its ninth regular session from 8 to 26 September at the Palais des Nations to discuss issues relating to the promotion and protection of human rights around the world. The Council will also consider human rights situations that require its attention, including the human rights situation in Sudan, and follow-up to its special sessions on Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza and on the global food crisis.

At the beginning of the session, the Council will hear its first update from the newly appointed High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay of South Africa, whose four-year term started on 1 September 2008.

During the session, the Council will hear reports from and hold interactive dialogues with its Special Procedures on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people; on the adverse effects of the illicit movement and dumping of toxic and dangerous products and wastes on the enjoyment of human rights; on human rights and international solidarity; on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences; and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

The Council will also hold an interactive discussion with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict and with mandate holders for the human rights situations in Burundi, Liberia and Somalia. Additionally, it will hear a presentation of a report on the defamation of religions by the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance to be delivered by the new mandate holder on behalf of the former Special Rapporteur.

The review, rationalization and improvement process of Special Procedures will continue as the Council takes up the mandates on toxic waste; people of African descent; and human rights in Cambodia.

A drawing of lots for the selection of troikas (groups of three rapporteurs) will also be conducted for the third, fourth and fifth sessions of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group to take place in December this year, February 2009 and May 2009, respectively. The Council will also determine the order of reviews for the fourth and fifth sessions of the Working Group.

In terms of its new institutional mechanisms, the Council will hear a report from its Advisory Committee on its first session, which was held from 4 to 15 August, and will discuss situations brought to its attention under its Complaint Procedure over the course of two closed meetings.

Council members will also appoint Special Procedures mandate holders for those which are currently vacant – two members for the Working Group on African Descent, one member for the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances and the first mandate holder for the newly created Independent Expert on the human right to water and sanitation.

Also during the session, the Council will devote meetings to discussions of the integration of a gender perspective and on the right to development. It will also hold a panel discussion on the question of missing persons to which experts of the International Committee of the Red Cross, delegates of Governments and non-governmental organizations, as well as national human rights institutions and international organizations, have been invited to participate, with a view to subsequently charging the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee to prepare a study on best practices in the matter.

The session will take place at the Palais des Nations in Room 17.

Composition of the Council

The Council is made up of the following 47 Member States. The mandates conclude on 18 June of the year indicated between parentheses. The Member States are Angola (2010); Argentina (2011); Azerbaijan (2009); Bahrain (2011); Bangladesh (2009); Bolivia (2010); Bosnia and Herzegovina (2010); Brazil (2011); Burkina Faso (2011); Cameroon (2009); Canada (2009); Chile (2011); China (2009); Cuba (2009); Djibouti (2009); Egypt (2010); France (2011); Gabon (2011); Germany (2009); Ghana (2011); India (2010); Indonesia (2010); Italy (2010); Japan (2011); Jordan (2009); Madagascar (2010); Malaysia (2009); Mauritius (2009); Mexico (2009); Netherlands (2010); Nicaragua (2010); Nigeria (2009); Pakistan (2011); Philippines (2010); Qatar (2010); Republic of Korea (2011); Russian Federation (2009); Saudi Arabia (2009); Senegal (2009); Slovakia (2011); Slovenia (2010); South Africa (2010); Switzerland (2009); Ukraine (2011); United Kingdom (2011); Uruguay (2009); and Zambia (2011).

The bureau of the Council is made up of the President, Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi of Nigeria. The Vice Chairpersons are Erlinda F. Basilio (Philippines); Alberto J. Dumont (Argentina); and Marius Grinius (Canada). Elchin Amirbayov (Azerbaijan) is also a Vice Chairperson and the Rapporteur.


For use of information media; not an official record

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