HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL DETERMINES ORDER OF REVIEW OF STATES AND TROIKAS FOR UPCOMING UNIVERSAL PERIDOIC REVIEW SESSIONS

The Human Rights Council this afternoon held a drawing of lots to determine the order of review of States to be considered at the fourth, fifth and sixth sessions of the Universal Periodic Review Working Groups and to select the troikas for the third, fourth and fifth Universal Periodic Review Working Groups sessions.

According to Council Resolution 5/1, the review will be conducted in one working group, chaired by the President of the Council and composed of the 47 Member States of the Council. Each Member State will decide on the composition of its delegation. A troika or group of three Rapporteurs, selected by the drawing of lots among the members of the Council and from different regional groups will be formed to facilitate each review, including the preparation of the report of the working group. The Universal Periodic Review Working Group held its first session from 7 to 18 April 2008 and its second session from 5 to 16 May 2008.

The States which will be considered during the fourth session of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group (2 to 13 February 2009) are Germany, Djibouti, Canada, Bangladesh, the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, China, Nigeria, Mexico, Mauritius, Jordan and Malaysia.

The States which will be considered during the fifth session of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group (4 to 15 May 2009) are Central African Republic, Monaco, Belize, Chad, Congo, Malta, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Chile, Vietnam, Uruguay, Yemen, Vanuatu, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Comoros and Slovakia,

The States which will be considered during the sixth session of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group (30 November to 11 December 2009) are Eritrea, Cyprus, the Dominican Republic, Cambodia, Norway, Albania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Portugal, Bhutan, Dominica, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Brunei Darussalam, Costa Rica, Equatorial Guinea and Ethiopia.

The Council this afternoon also proceeded to the selection of troikas for the third, fourth and fifth sessions of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group. The list of troikas will be available on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights under: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRMain.aspx

The Human Rights Council will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 9 September when it is scheduled to conclude its general debate with the new High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, before holding an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict.



For use of the information media; not an official record

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