Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council on the Human Rights Situation in Palestine July 2006 The new United Nations Human Rights Council(HRC) is up and working. The first regular session, which was held from 19 to 30 June, has been evaluated by the Office of the High Commission fro Human Rights(OHCHR) as a “balance between advancing essential procedural requirements and addressing substantive human rights issues.” 1 While many NGOs regretted to see relatively few work done on substantive issues, the overall mood of the inaugural session was the positive spirit of a new start for the UN human rights system. This was also mirrored by the presence of a large number of Heads of States and Ministers speaking at the High Level Segment of the first session of this new UN body. After all, as Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in his opening speech: The eyes of the world were upon them. At the 5 th and 6 th of July, the HRC held its first special session. After the first regular session which was welcomed as a positive change to the former Commission on Human Rights, the convening of a special session- one of the new mechanisms of the HRC- could have been a further sign of the renewal of the United Nations Human Rights system. Unfortunately it did so only in part. According to the General Assembly resolution establishing the HRC, a special session can be held 1 OHCHR media release: Inaugural Session of the Human Rights Council: Highlights in Brief on http://www.ohchr.org/english/press/hrc/HRCOutcome sFINAL.pdf. Also see previous FES Geneva Fact Sheet: “Inaugural Session of the Human Rights Council.” at the request by a Council member with the support of one third of the Council’s membership. 2 In this case, it was Tunisia who, on behalf and with the support of the Group of Arab States, requested a meeting on the“latest escalation of the situation in the Palestinian and other occupied Arab territories.” 3 It is a positive aspect, that such a special session has been convened. Concerns had been voiced about the inability of a Council to address current human rights situation, if it was not a standing body but only met three times during the year. By holding a special session only five days after the regular session ended, responding to the worsening of an ongoing violation of human rights, the Council proved its ability for fast reaction. Of course it will now have to be seen, whether the Council will do so at other occurrences of human rights violations or whether the first special session was rather the political plot it was being accused of by States critical to any resolution concerning the violation of human rights by Israel. The negative aspect of this special session and the resolution which was adopted in the process is that it showed again the split along regional blocks. The HRC was not able to reach consensus at the first resolution it adopted at a special session. In fact, a resolution on this topic had been adopted during the regular session, showing the very same pattern of votes. 2 A/RES/60/251, Para. 10. 3 Letter by the Permanent Representative of Tunisia, Samir AL-Oubaidi, to the Bureau of the HRC: A/HRC/S-1/1.