HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL TO HOLD SPECIAL SESSION ON SITUATION IN MYANMAR ON 2 OCTOBER

The Human Rights Council will hold a Special Session on the situation of human rights in Myanmar on Tuesday, 2 October after receiving a request signed by 17 Member States.

Doru Romulus Costea, the President of the Council, said that he will hold open-ended informative consultations on Monday, 1 October on the conduct and organization of the Special Session, which will be held on Tuesday, 2 October.

This will be the fifth Special Session convened by the Human Rights Council since it was created in June 2006. At previous Special Sessions the Council has considered the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory; the grave situation of human rights in Lebanon caused by Israeli military operations; human rights violations emanating from Israeli military incursions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the recent one in northern Gaza and the assault on Beit Hanoun, and the situation in Darfur, Sudan.

General Assembly Resolution 60/251 which created the Human Rights Council states in its operative paragraph 10 that the Council “shall be able to hold Special Sessions when needed at the request of a member of the Council with the support of one-third of the membership of the Council”.

For use of the information media; not an official record

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