Submitted by crinadmin on
[NEW YORK, 7 November 2006] – The HRC has updated its plans for its next meeting. As of 1 November, the Second Session of the Human Rights Council will resume on Monday, 27 November 2006. The HRC will aim to finish the incomplete activities and decisions from the Second Session that was suspended on 6 October in a two-day meeting, Monday and Tuesday, 27-28 November. The Third Session is planned for the remainder of the two weeks directly afterward, from Wednesday, 29 November through Friday, 8 December 2006. The new draft combined timetable for both sessions is available here. The intersessional Working Groups will begin meeting on 13 November. Review of Mandates is the first item on the agenda, as of the 31 October draft timetable available here. One of the issues on the Working Groups’ agenda is to review the complaints procedure of the HRC. Switzerland is the facilitator of these discussions. Switzerland requested a discussion paper on the 1503 complaint mechanism, which the Secretariat of the Human Rights Council provided on 18 October. The discussion paper is available here. A group of NGOs will meet in Geneva on Thursday, 9 November, to exchange information in preparation for the Working Groups’ meetings, with a possible outcome of drafting joint contributions to the Working Groups. The General Assembly’s Third Committee met on 1 November to consider the report of the HRC, but it decided not to hear it until a later date, possibly next week. The report is available here. Further information