HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL TO HOLD SPECIAL SESSION ON IMPACT OF GLOBAL ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRISES ON REALIZATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Human Rights Council
BACKGROUND RELEASE

17 February 2009



The Human Rights Council will hold a Special Session on Friday, 20 February on the impact of the global economic and financial crises on the universal realization and effective enjoyment of human rights. The session will take place in Room XVII of the Palais des Nations and will begin at 10 a.m.

The Special Session is being convened following a request by Egypt, on behalf of the African Group, and Brazil, as a joint initiative.

In order for a Special Session to be convened, the support of one-third of the membership of the Council (16 members or more) is required. So far, 26 Member States of the Council have supported the request. They are Angola, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Uruguay. A number of Observer States have also signed the request, namely Algeria, Benin, Bhutan, Burundi, Colombia, Congo, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Kuwait, Libya, Nepal, Niger, Panama, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and Yemen.

In the request for the Special Session, the African Group and Brazil state that the Special Session of the Human Rights Council will provide an equally important forum to raise awareness on the urgency of addressing the economic and financial crises from the human rights perspective. It will offer an opportunity to share concerns when dealing with its effects, as well as to highlight the importance of taking into consideration the human rights dimension of policy decisions.

This will be the tenth Special Session of the Human Rights Council, and the second on a thematic subject. The Council’s previous Special Sessions related to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Darfur, Myanmar, the global food crisis and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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For use of the information media; not an official record