Human Rights Council to Hold Special Session onthe Democratic Republic of the Congo on 7February

The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold a special session on the human rights situation in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Friday, 7 February 2025.

The session will start at 10 a.m. in room XX of the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The meeting will be webcast live in the six official languages of the United Nations.

The special session is being convened per an official request submitted on Monday evening, 3 February, by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has been supported by 27 States thus far.

For a special session to be convened, the support of one-third of the 47 members of the Council – 16 or more – is required. This request is thus far supported by the following States members of the Council (27): Algeria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Burundi, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czechia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Ghana, Iceland, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Marshall Islands, Morocco, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, the Republic of Korea, Romania, South Africa, Spain and Switzerland.

The request is also supported by the following 21 observer States: Australia, Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The list of signatories remains open up to the holding of the special session. Therefore, the above list of States is to be considered provisional.

In connection with this special session, the Council will convene an organizational meeting on Thursday, 6 February at 10 a.m. when specific details on the special session and its scenario will be announced. This organizational meeting will also be webcast live.

This will be the thirty-seventh special session of the Human Rights Council. On 28 November 2008, the Council held a special session on the situation of human rights in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The full list of special sessions of the Human Rights Council can be seen here .

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not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently. 

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