UN Human Rights Council Session Opens in Geneva

The 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council opens at the Palace of Nations in Geneva for five weeks of reviews, interactive dialogues and negotiations. The council’s 47 member states are expected to hold 37 dialogues with independent experts and adopt dozens of resolutions.

On the opening day, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk will present an updated overview of the global human-rights situation. Afghanistan, Syria, Myanmar and Sudan are among the crises at the center of the session.

The council will discuss a report on human rights in Belarus on September 18. Three further dialogues are scheduled for September 21, covering the special rapporteur’s report on Russia, an independent fact-finding mission on Iran and an independent commission of inquiry into violations in Ukraine.

On September 28, the council will hear the High Commissioner’s report on implementation of a resolution concerning Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan. It will also hold a general debate on human rights in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories.

During the session’s fourth week, delegates will address Haiti, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Cambodia and Yemen. Experts will also raise issues including the rights of older people, access to safe drinking water and sanitation, modern slavery, hazardous waste, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, the rights of peasants and rural residents, mercenaries and private military companies. Other discussions will examine the impact of unilateral sanctions on food, medicine and health care, economic and social rights amid rising inequality, Indigenous rights, gender considerations, climate-finance resources and reprisals against people who cooperate with the United Nations.