Human Rights Council special session on Palestine

UN Human Rights Council special session on occupied Palestinian territory set for 5 July

The United Nations Human Rights Council will open its first-ever special session tomorrow in Geneva, focusing on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, the world body announced today.

The decision was taken to hold the special session after a request by 21 Member States of the Human Rights Council at the end of the first session of the Council, which concluded on Friday.

Under the General Assembly Resolution which created the Council, the 47-member body “shall be able to hold special sessions when needed at the request of a member of the council with the support of one-third of the membership of the Council.”

In making the request, Tunisia noted that the Council is mandated to “address situations of violations of human rights, including gross and systematic violations ? and contribute, through dialogue and cooperation, towards the prevention of human rights violations and respond promptly to human rights emergencies,” the UN Office at Geneva said in a press release.

On behalf of the 21 countries supporting the measure, Tunisia said that they called for a special session “due to the serious and escalating situation as well as the human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory caused by the recent Israeli military operations against Palestinian civilians.”

The request presented by Tunisia was supported by Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Cuba, Gabon, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Mali, Morocco, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, and Sri Lanka.

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