HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL TO HOLD SPECIAL SESSION TO CONSIDER SITUATION IN LEBANON ON 11 AUGUST

10 August 2006

The Human Rights Council will hold a special session on the situation in Lebanon on Friday, 11 August starting 10 a.m. in Room XX of the Palais des Nations.

A note verbale from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the President of the Human Rights Council, having consulted with interested parties, had decided to convene the special session in order to respond to the request of the Ambassador of Tunisia, on behalf of the Group of Arab States and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, supported in total by 16 Member States.

The letter by Tunisia, which chairs the Group of Arab States, asks the President of the Council to convene the Council immediately to “consider and take action on the gross human rights violations by Israel in Lebanon, including the Qana massacre, country-wide targeting of innocent civilians, and destruction of vital civilian infrastructure”.

General Assembly Resolution 60/251 which created the Human Rights Council states in its operative paragraph 10 that the Council “shall be able to hold special sessions when needed at the request of a member of the council with the support of one-third of the membership of the Council”.

The request for the special session was supported by the following Member States: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Cuba, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.

The Human Rights Council, which replaced the Human Rights Commission and held its first session from 19 to 30 June, held its first special session on 5 and 6 July on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.
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