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The second session of the Human Rights Council will take place from 18 September to 6 October 2006 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. An informal open-ended consultation on preparation for the 2nd session of the Human Rights Council will be convened by the President of the Council on Friday, 1 September 2006, from 10am to 1pm in conference room XVIII of the Palais des Nations. The consultation is open to Permanent Missions, United Nations departments and bodies, specialised agencies, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations. On 7 and 8 September 2006, the Human Rights Council will hold a further round of informal consultations towards the establishment of inter-sessional open-ended Working Groups on the Universal Periodic Review and the Review of mandates and mechanisms. In view of the informal consultations, the Secretariat has been asked to prepare a compilation of contributions of all stakeholders on the UPR. Also, efforts are underway to invite a number of organisations to give presentations and share experiences on existing review mechanisms. The foreseen schedule for the informal consultations is: The provisional agenda for the 2nd session of the Human Rights Council as proposed by the President of the Council has now been circulated. It will shortly be issued as a document of the second session of the Council. Also available is the draft framework for the programme of work of the Council at its second session as contained in Council’s decision 1/105 of 30 June 2006, which falls in its entirety under provisional agenda item 2. At this stage, the detailed time-table for the HRC second session is still being considered by the HRC Bureau. According to the draft framework for a programme of work of the Council for the first year, no High-level Segment is foreseen for the 2nd session of the HRC. Moreover, all reports pending from CHR 62 are expected to be considered during the session. However, at this stage, it is yet not known in what order the reports of the Special Procedures will be considered and how much time will be dedicated to each of them. Note that no new documentation is expected for submission to the Human Rights Council at its 2nd session, with the exception for example of the report mandated by the HRC 1st Special session, and that updates by Special Procedure mandate-holders will be done orally. Informal open-ended consultations on preparations for the second session of the Human Rights Council will be convened by the President of the Council on Friday, 1 September 2006, from 10am to 1pm in conference room XVIII of the Palais des Nations. The meeting, to which NGOs are invited, should offer an opportunity to raise and clarify issues pertaining to the organization of work for the second session of the HRC, including NGO participation. With regard to NGO written statements, pursuant to HRC decision 1/102 of 30 June 2006 the totality of the NGO written statements submitted to the 62nd session of the former Commission on Human Rights (251 NGO written statements) will be part of the overall documentation referred by the Commission on Human Rights to the Human Rights Council. All of them continue to be available electronically on OHCHR website, as well as on paper at the UN Documentation Distribution Desk at Door 40 (Palais des Nations). With regard to accreditation, as under arrangements and practices observed by the HRC in its first session, and by the former Commission on Human Rights, NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC wishing to accredit representatives to the second session of the Human Rights Council are invited – as of 1 September - to send their request(s) to the Secretariat of the Council, for the attention of Ms. Kate Hardie (until 15 September at: Tel: +41 (0)22 917 92 56; Fax: +41 (0)22 917 90 11). Contact details as of 18 September will be communicated further. As under the arrangements and practices observed by the HRC in its first session, and by the Commission on Human Rights, NGOs duly accredited to the second session of the HRC will be able to organise parallel events of relevance to the work of the Human Rights Council, taking into account availability of conference rooms. The relevant room booking form will be available under the link “room reservation” on the webpage for the second session of the HRC. It is anticipated that room requests will be received as of 1 September 2006 and should be sent to the attention of Ms. Luciana Castanon by fax to + 41 (0) 22 917 9011. While – as stated earlier - the detailed session time-table has not been determined as yet, it should be expected that on the days when interactive dialogues are held with the Special Procedures, priority in terms of room booking will be given to Special Procedure mandate-holders. For more information, contact: Further information
Review of mandates and mechanisms: 10am – 1pm, room XVIII (7 and 8 September)
UPR: 3–6pm, Room XVIII (7 and 8 September)
Laura Dolci-Kanaan
OHCHR NGO Liaison Officer
Email: ldolci-kanaan@ohchr.org