Human Rights Council
BACKGROUND RELEASE

7 September 2011

The Human Rights Council will hold its eighteenth regular session from 12 to 30 September at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

On the morning of Monday, 12 September, the Council will hear an update by Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to be followed by a general debate.

During the session, the Council will review reports by and hold interactive dialogues with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict and Special Procedure mandate holders on issues including, human rights and international solidarity, the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination, contemporary forms of slavery, the adverse effects of the movement and dumping of toxic and dangerous products and wastes on the enjoyment of human rights, access to safe drinking water and sanitation, the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples, contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and people of African descent. It will also hear from the Intergovernmental Committee mandated to develop additional standards on racial discrimination not sufficiently covered under the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination.

On the afternoon of Tuesday, 13 September, the Council will hold a panel on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests. On Wednesday, 14 September in the afternoon, the Council will hold a panel on the realization of the right to development. On Friday, 16 September in the morning, the Council will hold a panel discussion on the right to health of older persons. On Tuesday, 20 September in the afternoon, the Council will hold a panel on the role of languages and culture in the protection of the well-being and identity of indigenous peoples. On Monday, 26 September in the morning, the Council will hold its annual discussion on the integration of a gender perspective in the work of the Human Rights Council. It will also hold a high-level panel discussion on current human rights situations with regard to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in commemoration of Nelson Mandela International Day on Wednesday, 28 September in the morning.

There will be a presentation of thematic reports of the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner on Thursday, 15 September, followed by a general debate. These include reports on cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights, migrants and asylum seekers fleeing recent events in North Africa, the question of the death penalty, the right to development, human rights and transitional justice, the role of prevention in the promotion and protection of human rights, forensic genetics and human rights, human rights and indigenous peoples, preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights, human rights and issues related to terrorist hostage taking, and the eighteenth meeting of the Special Procedures.

On Monday, 19 September, the High Commissioner will hold an interactive dialogue on the visit of her Office to Yemen. The same day, and under its agenda item on human rights situations that require its attention, the Council will hold an interactive dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law in Libya, which will present an oral update to its last report. This will be followed by an interactive dialogue with the High Commissioner on the situation in Syria on the basis of her follow-up report, and on Tuesday, 20 September she will present an oral report on the situation in Belarus in an interactive dialogue.
The reports of the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner on progress made in the implementation of the recommendations in the report of the United Nations fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict by all concerned parties will be discussed on Monday, 26 September, followed by a general debate. The High Commissioner will also present her reports on advisory services and technical assistance for Cambodia and on assistance to Côte d'Ivoire in the field of human rights on Wednesday, 28 September.

The Council will hold interactive dialogues with the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Sudan on Monday, 19 September in the afternoon. It will also hold interactive dialogues with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia and the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia on Wednesday, 28 September.

Also at this session, the Council will consider the final outcomes of Universal Periodic Reviews undertaken on the human rights situations in Belgium, Denmark, Palau, Somalia, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Latvia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Suriname, Greece, Samoa, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Hungary, and Papua New Guinea. 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.

The Council will also hold closed meetings under its complaint procedure on Friday, 16 September in the afternoon and Tuesday, 27 September in the morning.

Towards the end of its session, the Council will appoint Special Procedure mandate holders for the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Côte d’Ivoire, and one of the 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 peoples 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/18/1) as well as the Human Rights Council website at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/18session.

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); Austria (2014); Bangladesh (2012); Belgium (2012); Benin (2014); Botswana (2014); Burkina Faso (2014); Cameroon (2012); Chile (2014); China (2012); Congo (2014); Costa Rica (2014); Cuba (2012); Czech Republic (2014); Djibouti (2012); Ecuador (2013); Guatemala (2013); Hungary (2012); India (2014); Indonesia (2014); Italy (2014); Jordan (2012); Kuwait (2014); Kyrgyzstan (2012); *Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (2013); Malaysia (2013); Maldives (2013); Mauritania (2013); Mauritius
(2012); Mexico (2012); Nigeria (2012); Norway (2012); Peru (2014), Philippines (2014); Poland (2013); Qatar (2013); Republic of Moldova (2013); Romania (2014); Russian Federation (2012); Saudi Arabia (2012); Senegal (2012); Spain (2013); Switzerland (2013); Thailand (2013); Uganda (2013); United States of America (2012); Uruguay (2012).
* Suspended by the General Assembly in its resolution 65/265 of 1 March 2011.

The President of the Council is Laura Dupuy Lasserre (Uruguay); Vice-Presidents, Christian Strohal (Austria), Anatole Fabien Nkou (Cameroon), András Dékány (Hungary); Vice-President and Rapporteur, Gulnara Iskakova (Kyrgyzstan).

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