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[New York, 15 November 2006] – The intergovernmental working groups of the Human Rights Council began meeting in Geneva on Monday, 13 November. They will continue until 24 November following the agenda in the two-week programme, most recently revised on 14 November to account for today’s Special Session. The four issues for the working groups to consider are: review of mandates, complaint procedure, the Universal Periodic Review, and expert advice. The Council’s second session will resume on 27 November, followed immediately by the Third Session (29 November-8 December). The task of the working groups is to “adopt preliminary conclusions and recommendations to be presented to the Human Rights Council for consideration during its 3rd session” before the beginning of the sessions, according to the HRC secretariat. The review of mandates will be taken up by the “OP6 Working Group.” The current objective of this working group, according to its facilitator Ambassador Tomas Husak of the Czech Republic, is “to improve and rationalize all mandates in order to maintain a system of Special Procedures, building on the legacy from the [UN Commission on Human Rights] and to define the Special Procedures and improve their relation with the other UN human rights mechanisms.” The strategy, he says, is to dedicate a three-hour meeting of the Working Group to each of the topics, “proceeding from the common to individual features. The criteria for the review must be set prior to embarking on this exercise.” NGOs held a meeting to prepare for the working groups on 9 November, which has been summarized by the Conference of NGOs. Non-governmental organizations have been invited to submit contributions on the four issues to CONGO for posting on their website. The working groups were established by the Human Rights Council during its first session in June 2006. See the Outcome Table from the first session prepared by the International Service for Human Rights, for more information on the working groups’ mandates. Other Useful Resources More information on the topics being discussed in the working groups: HRC Extranet’s special section on working groups Analytical Reports after first week of the working groups’ meetings and at the beginning of the Third Session: International Service for Human Rights (this site will also provide four final reports covering each of the processes) Daily Reports for NGOs: CONGO’s website