Human Rights Council to Hold Special Session on “the Human Rights Implications of the Crisis in Myanmar” on 12 February

The Human Rights Council will hold a special session on “the human rights implications of the crisis in Myanmar” on Friday, 12 February. The special session will take place in a mainly virtual format starting 10 a.m. from the Assembly Hall of the Palais des Nations.

The decision was taken to hold the special session after a joint request by the United Kingdom and the European Union, which has been supported by 45 States so far. The request said the special session was needed because of “the importance and urgency of the situation”.

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”. This means that the support of one-third of the 47 members of the Council, 16 or more, is required.

So far, this request has been supported by the following 19 Member States of the Council: Austria, Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Marshall Islands, Netherlands, Malawi, Mexico, Poland, Republic of Korea, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

The request was also supported by the following 28 observer States: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States. The list of signatories remains open to the holding of the special session.

This will be the twenty-ninth special session of the Council. An organizational meeting on the session will be held at 3 p.m. on Thursday, 11 February.

The organizational meeting and the special session will be webcast.

HRC21.001E