Human Rights Council to hold its seventeenth session from 30 May to 17 June

BACKGROUND RELEASE

26 May 2011

The Human Rights Council will hold its seventeenth regular session from 30 May to 17 June at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

On the morning of Monday, 30 May, the Council will hear an update by Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to be followed by a general debate.

The Council will review reports by and hold interactive dialogues with Special Procedures mandate holders on issues including extrajudicial and summary executions, human rights and transnational corporations, the independence of lawyers and judges, the rights of migrants, the right to education, cultural rights, human rights and foreign debt, poverty, the right to health, human trafficking, freedom of expression, and violence against women.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, 1 June the Council will hold a panel discussion on the rights of victims of terrorism while on Friday, 3 June there will be a presentation of thematic reports of the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner, followed by a general debate. These include reports on the elimination of all forms of violence against women; the realization in all countries of economic, social and cultural rights; the right to truth; and the rights of the child.

On 6 June the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child will present its report, which will be followed by a general debate under agenda item 5. Also on this day, the Council will follow up on its 15th special session by holding an interactive dialogue with the commission of inquiry established on 25 February 2011 by Resolution S-15/1 to investigate all allegations of human rights violations in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya following political protests in that country. The discussion will be followed by another interactive dialogue organized by the High Commissioner on the situation of human rights in the country.

On Friday, 10 June the Council will hold its annual day of discussion on women’s human rights which will focus on good practices and remaining gaps in the prevention of violence against women in the morning and on conflict related sexual violence in the afternoon. During the final week of the session, the Council will hold panel discussions on the promotion of a culture of tolerance and peace based on respect for human rights and diversity of religions and beliefs, as well as on the best practices in the fight against racism. During this week there will also be interactive dialogues with the Special Rapporteur on racism, the Independent Expert on Burundi and the Independent Expert on Haiti as well as follow-up to the 14th and 16th special sessions which concerned Côte d’Ivoire and Syria respectively. This will include an interactive dialogue with the commission of inquiry on Côte d’Ivoire, which was established by Resolution 16/25 to investigate allegations of serious human rights violations and abuses in that country after the contested presidential election of 28 November 2010.

On Tuesday, 14 June the High Commissioner will present a follow-up report on the incident of the humanitarian flotilla. This document examines the status of the implementation of the conclusions contained in the report of the international fact-finding mission.

Also at this session, the Council will consider the final outcomes of Universal Periodic Reviews undertaken on the human rights situations in Nauru, Rwanda, Nepal, Saint Lucia, Oman, Austria, Myanmar, Australia, Georgia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sao Tomé and Principe, Namibia, Niger, Mozambique, Estonia and Paraguay. Following its consideration of the reports, the Council is expected to officially adopt those documents, which include observations and recommendations to concretely improve the human rights situations in those countries.

Towards the end of its session, the Council will decide on the appointments of several Special Procedures: the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants; the Independent Expert on minority issues; the Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity; the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises; the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran; and three members of the Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of people to self-determination.

For more detailed information about the work of the Council at this session, including with regard to documentation, please refer to the annotated agenda of the session A/HRC/17/1, as well as the Human Rights Council website at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/17session/.

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 (2013); Argentina (2011); Bahrain (2011); Bangladesh (2012); Belgium (2012); Brazil (2011); Burkina Faso (2011); Cameroon (2012); Chile (2011); China (2012); Cuba (2012); Djibouti (2012); Ecuador (2013); France (2011); Gabon (2011); Ghana (2011); Guatemala (2013); Hungary (2012); Japan (2011); Jordan (2012); Kyrgyzstan (2012); Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (2013)*; Malaysia 2013); Maldives (2013); Mauritania (2013); Mauritius (2012); Mexico (2012); Nigeria (2012); Norway (2012); Pakistan (2011); Poland (2013); Qatar (2013); Republic of Korea (2011); Republic of Moldova (2013); Russian Federation (2012); Saudi Arabia (2012); Senegal (2012); Slovakia (2011); Spain (2013); Switzerland (2013); Thailand (2013); Uganda (2013); Ukraine (2011); United Kingdom (2011); United States (2012); Uruguay (2012); and Zambia (2011).

The President of the Council is Sihasak Phuangketkeow (Thailand); Vice-Presidents are Arcanjo Maria Do Nascimento (Angola), Rodolfo Reyes Rodriguez (Cuba), and Fedor Rosocha (Slovakia); and the Vice-President and Rapporteur is Bente Angell-Hansen (Norway).

*The rights of membership suspended by General Assembly resolution A/RES/65/265 on 1 March 2011.

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For use of the information media; not an official record