Informal one-day meeting of the Commission on Human Rights 28 September 2004

Information note for participants

1. Date and venue

An informal one-day meeting of the Commission on Human Rights will be held on Tuesday, 28 September 2004 , at 10.00 a.m , in conference room XVIII of the Palais des Nations in Geneva . The purpose of the meeting is to facilitate, in advance of the fifty-ninth session of the General Assembly, the exchange of information on human rights issues on the agenda of the Third Committee.

2. Participation and accreditation

The informal one-day meeting of the Commission on Human Rights will be open to all States, United Nations departments and bodies, specialized agencies and intergovernmental and other organizations, as well as to non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council. To participate, a request for accreditation should be sent to Ms. Kate Hardie, secretariat of the Commission on Human Rights, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Room PW 1-036, Palais des Nations, 8-14 avenue de la Paix, CH-1211 Geneva 10.

Participants who have submitted their accreditation request will need to bring their passport or similar picture identification to the accreditation office located at the Villa “Les Feuillantines”, 13, avenue de la Paix ( Opening hours: 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.), as from Monday, 27 September 2004, to receive their badge to enter the UN complex. Participants who already have a valid UN pass do not need to achieve this procedure.

All participants are kindly requested to fill in the orange-coloured conference registration form upon arrival at the meeting. Copies of the form will be available in conference room XVIII.

3. Organization of work

The secretariat will make presentations of a primarily informative nature concerning the human rights developments since the closure of the sixtieth session of the Commission on Human Rights.

After the presentation of each item/issue by the secretariat in the order of the human rights agenda items of the Third Committee, a general discussion will follow (questions and answers). Government representatives, observers for United Nations departments, specialized agencies and intergovernmental organizations, if any, will be given the floor for short interventions. It is expected that particular emphasis will be placed by government representatives on initiatives and draft resolutions they intend to table during the fifty-ninth session of the General Assembly.

4. Human rights items

The human rights items to be allocated to the Third Committee by the General Assembly this year are as follows * :

Item 101 Promotion and protection of the rights of children

Item 102 Programme of activities for the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People, 1995-2004

Item 103 Elimination of racism and racial discrimination:

• Elimination of racism and racial discrimination;
• Comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.

Item 104 Right of peoples to self-determination

Item 105 Human rights questions:

(a) Implementation of human rights instruments;

(b) Human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms;

(c) Human rights situations and reports of special rapporteurs and representatives;

(d) Comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action;

(e) Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

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* It is to be noted that the numbers of agenda items are still subject to possible changes and are therefore put in square brackets.