HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL TO HOLD SPECIAL SESSION ON SITUATION IN OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY ON 5 JULY

Human Rights Council
4 July 2006


The Human Rights Council will hold a special session on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory on Wednesday, 5 July. The special session will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Assembly Hall.

The decision was taken to hold the special session after a request by 21 Member States of the Human Rights Council at the end of the first session of the Council, which concluded on Friday, 30 June.

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”.

Tunisia, which presides the Arab Group, in requesting the special session, noted that operative paragraph 3 and operative paragraph 5 (f) of the resolution state that the “Council shall address situations of violations of human rights, including gross and systematic violations … and contribute, through dialogue and cooperation, towards the prevention of human rights violations and respond promptly to human rights emergencies”. Tunisia said that the undersigned called for a special session “due to the serious and escalating situation as well as the human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory caused by the recent Israeli military operations against Palestinian civilians”.

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

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For use of the information media; not an official record