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Summary: The 19th Session of the Human Rights Council opened today in Geneva with the President of the Council announcing that an urgent debate on the human rights and humanitarian situation in Syria would take place on 28 February.
The Human Rights Council this morning opened its 19th session and started its high-level segment, hearing keynote statements from the President of the Council, the President of the General Assembly, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Federal Councillor and Head of the Federal Department for Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, followed by the high-level segment which was addressed by nine dignitaries. Urgent debate on Syria At the end of the 19th session's first meeting, the President of the Council asked if there was agreement to hold the urgent debate on the situation of human rights in Syria on 28 February. Russia and Cuba make interventions The Russian Federation said it would not object to holding the special meeting, but stressed that the discussion should not result in a written document as that would not be useful to resolving the situation in Syria. Cuba said that it hoped that the special meeting would not be used as a pretext to promote military action in the country against the territorial sovereignty of the Syrian nation. The President of the Council said the meeting on Syria would be held on 28 February. Amongst the high level representatives to take to the floor during the opening meeting of the 19th Session were Government Ministers from the United Kingdom, Colombia, Iraq, Uruguay and Mexico.
High-level segments
- Read more about the opening meeting, here.
Further Information
- Visit CRIN's 19th session page for full details and coverage of the session.
pdf: http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=11874&L...