The 2^nd session of the newly-formed United Nations’ Human Rights Council will take place from September 18 to October 6 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Council’s provisional agenda is guided by the draft framework for the programme of work decided by the Council at the conclusion of its 1^st session on June 30. The three items are: adoption of the agenda and organization of work, implementation of the General Assembly (GA) resolution of March 15, 2006 establishing the Council, and a report to the GA on the session.

In its 1^st session in Geneva from June 16-30, the Council adopted the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The two declarations are now before the General Assembly. The HRC has already held two special sessions, which may be called by any of its members with support from 1/3 of the HRC, on the human rights violations committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories and against Lebanese citizens in the Israel-Lebanon conflict, respectively.

Among the agenda items for the 2^nd session is a report on the special procedures that the Council inherited from its predecessor, the UN Commission for Human Rights (CHR). These special procedures include a unique complaint procedure that NGOs and even individuals can lodge, advice from human rights experts, early warning procedures when grave human rights violations have occurred, and working groups on the implementation of human rights declarations and treaties. The Council has 1 year to decide on the status of these special procedures; the discussion allows comments by non-Members and observers, though afforded less time than Member States.

Also on the provisional agenda are reports from its Working Groups (WG), including its WG  on the Universal Periodic Review system, which all UN members are subject to and the Council’s 47 members will be the first to undergo—a departure from the previous CHR, where the Commission’s members often avoided scrutiny of their domestic human rights situations. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, will provide an update along with the Office of the Secretary-General, and other UN delegations may raise issues concerning the promotion and protection of human rights. 

Updates will be given by members of the HRC on the human rights situation in Palestine and other Occupied Arab Territories, as well as in Lebanon. The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, social discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance on the issue of political platforms which promote or incite racial discrimination will also report to the Council. The Independent expert appointed by the Secretary-General to lead the study of violence against children will also make a statement.