The Human Rights Council will hold its fifty-first regular session from 12 September to 7 October at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
Nada Al-Nashif, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, currently serving as acting High Commissioner, will present the High Commissioner’s oral update at 9 a.m. on Monday, 12 September in room XX.
At an organizational meeting held on 30 August in preparation for the session, the President of the Council, Federico Villegas, bid farewell to High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet, whose term of office ended on 31 August. He thanked her for the work she had done over the past four years, noting that her personal commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights had allowed her Office to continue nurturing the functioning of all the mechanisms of the United Nations human rights system, including this Council, under very difficult geopolitical circumstances. He said that while Ms. Bachelet would be missed, as consolation, he knew that she would continue to make history and that wherever she was and in whatever position she may occupy, she would continue to champion human rights, projecting her example and inspiring the struggle of all those who sought a better world.
Under agenda item two on the annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General, the Council will hold separate interactive dialogues on the report of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar on the situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar; the report of the Office of the High Commissioner on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka; the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan; and the High Commissioner’s report on the promotion and protection of human rights in Nicaragua on 12 and 13 September. It will also hold an enhanced interactive dialogue on the human rights situation of women and girls in Afghanistan on the first day.
States will have a chance to respond to the High Commissioner’s update and to other reports presented under agenda item two in the general debate on 13 and 14 September.
Under agenda item three on the promotion and protection of all human rights, the Council will hold separate interactive dialogues with the Special Rapporteur on water and sanitation (14 September); the Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures (14 September); the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery (15 September); the Special Rapporteur on the right to development (15 September); the report of the Office of the High Commissioner on privacy (16 September); the Special Rapporteur on truth, justice and reparation; the Working Group on arbitrary detention (19 September); the Independent Expert on older people (19 September); the Independent Expert on an equitable international order (19 September); the Working Group on enforced disappearances (20 September); the Working Group on mercenaries (20 September); and the Special Rapporteur on hazardous substances and waste (20 September).
Also under agenda item three, the Council will hear a briefing by the President of the Economic and Social Council, the presentation of thematic reports and the reports of the Working Group on the right to development and the Working Group on private military and security companies, followed by a general debate (20 and 21 September).
Concerning human rights situations that require the Council’s attention, agenda item four, the Council will hold separate interactive dialogues with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar (21 September); on the report of the Office of the High Commissioner on Myanmar (22 September); the Commission of Human Rights on Ethiopia (22 September); the Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (22 September); the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burundi (22 September); the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine (23 September); on the oral update by the High Commissioner on the situation of human rights in Belarus (23 September); the Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela (26 September); and on the oral update by the High Commissioner on the human rights situation in Myanmar (26 September). This will be followed by a general debate on agenda item four (26 and 27 September).
The rights of indigenous peoples will be the focus of attention on 28 and 29 September with separate interactive dialogues with the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and with the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples.
On 28 September, the Council will continue with agenda item five on human rights bodies and mechanisms with separate interactive dialogues with the Advisory Committee and the following day on the Secretary-General’s report on reprisals, followed by a general debate on the item (29 and 30 September). This will be followed by general debates on agenda item six on the Universal Periodic Review; agenda item seven on the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories; and agenda item eight on follow-up to and implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Work, all scheduled to take place on 30 September.
The last week of the Council starts with agenda item nine on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance: follow-up to and implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, with an interactive dialogue with the Working Group on people of African descent, and the presentation of the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of Complementary Standards, followed by a general debate. In the afternoon of 3 October, the Council will hold an enhanced interactive dialogue with the High Commissioner and the International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law, which will present its first report to the Council.
On 4 October in the afternoon, the Council will open agenda item 10 on technical assistance and capacity building, holding an interactive dialogue on the oral update of the High Commissioner on Ukraine, followed by an enhanced interactive dialogue on the report of the High Commissioner and the team of international experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This will be followed by an interactive dialogue on the oral update of the Office of the High Commissioner on technical assistance and capacity building for South Sudan. Separate interactive dialogues will be held on 5 October with the Special Rapporteur on Cambodia and the Independent Expert on Somalia, followed by an enhanced interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner’s report on the Philippines, and an interactive dialogue with the Independent Expert on the Central African Republic. On 6 October, the Council will hear the presentation of country reports by the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Secretary-General, as well as oral updates on Cambodia, Georgia and Yemen, followed by a general debate on agenda item 10.
During the four-week session, the Council will hold five panel discussions on the right to development (15 September); the integration of a gender perspective throughout the work of the Human Rights Council and that of its mechanisms (26 September); the right to work in connection with climate change actions, responses and impacts in the context of sustainable and inclusive economies (27 September); the rights of indigenous peoples on the theme “Impact of social and economic recovery plans in the COVID-19 context on indigenous peoples, with a special focus on food security” (28 September); and on the negative impact of the legacies of colonialism on the enjoyment of human rights (28 September).
The Council will take action on draft decisions and resolutions on 6 and 7 October, and will also appoint a number of Special Procedure mandate holders before closing the session. These include the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance; the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons; the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers; a member of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, from Eastern European States; and the election of nine members of the Advisory Committee.
Information on the fifty-first session of the Council can be found here.