International Service for Human Rights

A number of important resolutions will be negotiated and adopted at the Human Rights Council's 15th session, which will take place from 13 September to 1 October. These include renewing the special procedures mandates on the rights of indigenous peoples, counter-terrorism, arbitrary detention, the right to health, the right to housing, contemporary forms of slavery, and the human rights situations in Cambodia and Somalia. The mandate on the Sudan will also need to be renewed but there has been no announcement yet by the African Group, the main sponsor, of any intention to do so.

The organisational meeting for the 15th session took place on Monday 30 August and the programme of work for the session was endorsed. The High Commissioner will present an update on the first day of the session, which is expected to focus, among other things, on the review of the Council.

Eleven of the Council's special procedures will present their annual reports. Belgium (on behalf of the European Union) argued that the traditional clustering of interactive dialogues with special procedures should be limited to where there is a clear connection between the issues to be discussed. This request is unlikely to be taken up at this stage but may be an issue that will be discussed further during the review of the Council.