4th Special Session of the Human Rights Council

At the request addressed by the Permanent Representative of Finland, signed by 29 Members of the Human Rights Council, the Human Rights Council will hold its 4th Special Session immediately after the conclusion of the 3rd Regular Session of the Council.

• Note verbale circulated by the HRC Secretariat on 30 November 2006
• Website of the HRC's 4th Special Session

Previous CONGO resources on Human Rights

Modalities for NGO participation in the 4th special session

Accreditation

NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC wishing to accredit representatives to the fourth special session of the Human Rights Council are invited to send their letter of accreditation request/s to the Secretariat of the Council by fax, to the attention of Ms. Kate Hardie, who can be contacted at Fax: + 41 (0)22 917 02 96; Tel: + 41 (0)22 917 67 14 / 917 92 56.

Accreditations for the second (resumed) and third session of the HRC will be no longer valid and new accreditation requests will need to be made for the fourth Special Session of the Council.

NGO written statements

NGO written statements to the 4th Special session should be submittedto the HRC Secretariat (hrcngo@ohchr.org) preferably by Thursday 07 December 2006, 15:00 hours. The Secretariat will not be able to ensure the timely circulation of written statements late in submission.

The HRC Secretariat circulated guidelines for the technical submission of written statements by NGOs.

NGO oral declarations

NGO oral statements will be limited to 3 minutes (see interim modalities below) and the list of speakers will be officially opened at 10.00 am on 12 December 2006. Representatives of NGOs should register in person with the list of speakers' desk. 

However, the President of the HRC  asked all stakeholders, for time management planning only, to inform the NGO Liaison Officer (ldolci-kanaan@ohchr.org) by Monday 11 December 2006 (12:00pm) of their intention to take the floor at the 4th special session of the HRC ahead of the session. This expression of intent will NOT be considered as a pre-inscription.

Interim modalities for the Special Session

The interim modalities for the 1st special session might also be applied for the 4th special session. See below:

Suggestion for the first special session of the Human Rights Council, in an interim basis

• These suggestions should be applied in an interim basis, as the Council will address in the
future the question of its methods of work.
• The special session shall only deal with the specific question for which it was convened.
Therefore, the only agenda item shall be the specific question.

Proposals
Provisions of rule 120 of the GA Rules of Procedure, apply ("as a general rule, no
proposal shall be discussed or put to the vote at any meeting unless copies of it have been
circulated to all delegations not later than the day preceding the meeting. The President
may, however, permit the discussion and consideration of amendments or of motions as to
procedure, even though such amendments and motions have not been circulated or have
only been circulated the same day").
Modalities for the voting procedure will be the same used at the first session of the
Council, adjusting concerned countries which will be given 3 minutes.

List of speakers and speaking-time limits:
• The list of speakers will be prepared by the Secretariat. The list will be drawn up in
chronological order of registration. HRC Members and concerned countries will be given
the floor first, followed by non-HRC members and other observers.
• Given the short duration of the special session and the number of expected interventions,
time should be allotted as follow: 5 minutes Member States and concerned countries; 3
minutes Non-Member States; 3 minutes intergovernmental organizations, specialized
agencies, national institutions and NGOs.
• However, if the list of speakers exceeds 3 hours, it will be necessary to distribute the time
proportionally.

Rights of reply and points of order:
• Rights of reply will be limited to two replies of three minutes for the first and two minutes
for the second and all rights of reply will be exercised at the end of the discussion of the
question.
• In accordance with rule 113 of the rules of procedure of the GA, a speaker may not, in
raising a point of order, speak on the substance of the matter under discussion.
Consequently, the President will not allow the use of points of order to express
disagreement with or provide any argument in favour of or against questions of substance
raised.

President of HRC, 4 July 2006.