Council to hold Special session on the deteriorating Human Rights situation in Syria and the killings in El-Houleh

BACKGROUND RELEASE

30 May 2012

The Human Rights Council will hold a Special Session on Friday, 1 June on the deteriorating human rights situation in Syria and the recent killings in El-Houleh. This will be the Council’s nineteenth Special Session and its fourth Special Session on Syria.

The request for the Special Session was submitted in a letter today by the Ambassadors of Qatar, Turkey, United States, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Denmark and the European Union. It was signed by 21 Member States of the Council and 30 observer States. The request was signed by the following members of the Council: Austria, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Kuwait, Maldives, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Poland, Qatar, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, United States and Uruguay.

The request was also supported by the following observer States: Australia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

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.

The Special Session will start at 11 a.m. on Friday, 1 June in Salle XX of the Palais des Nations.

The Council held the first Special Session on the human rights situation in Syria on 29 April 2011, the second on 22 August 2011 and the third on 2 December 2011.

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For use of information media; not an official record