Council Adopts its Agenda and Programme of Work, Starts General Debate The Human Rights Council this morning heard an update from United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on salient human rights issues that remained of the utmost concern for the human rights community, and…

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Officer-in-charge of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food…

Special Representative if the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Presents her Annual Report The Human Rights Council this afternoon continued its general debate on the update presented earlier in the day by High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on developments in the human…

The Committee on the Rights of the Child today reviewed the combined third and fourth periodic reports of the Philippines on how that country is implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Esperanza Cabral, Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development…

The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning opened it fifty-second session, adopting its agenda and programme of work and hearing an address from Ibrahim Salama, Chief of the Human Rights Treaties Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Opening the meeting, Yanghee…

Hears Statements from High-level Dignitaries from Sri Lanka, the United States and Thailand The United Nations Human Rights Council this morning opened its twelfth regular session, holding a high-level segment in which it heard statements from three dignitaries from Sri Lanka, the United States…

The Committee on the Rights of the Child today reviewed the initial report of Turkey on how that country is implementing the provisions of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. Presenting the report, Hasan Gogus,…

Council Holds Informal Meeting to Determine Order of Review of States and Troikas for Upcoming Universal Periodic Review Sessions Latin American countries this afternoon challenged the legitimacy of the Honduran delegation at the Human Rights Council, saying that it did not represent the…

The Human Rights Council will hold its twelfth regular session from 14 September to 2 October 2009 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. On the morning of Monday, 14 September, the Council will hear an update by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to be…

The Conference on Disarmament this morning heard statements from the new Permanent Representative of Belarus on his country’s disarmament policies and its upcoming Presidency of the Conference next year, and from Canada regarding the draft annual programme of work. Ambassador Mikhail Khvostov of…