Press release on the opening of the UN Human Rights Council’s 30th session

On September 14, the 30th session of the UN Human Rights Council opened in Geneva.

The session started with a dialogue by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein that covered a wide range of issues on the international human rights agenda, and pointed out challenges that his office faces in its effort to encourage and protect human rights.

In his speech during the dialogue, Andrey Nikiforov, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and other international organisations in Geneva, covered a number of current scenarios that have many human rights implications, including the situation in Ukraine and Syria, the refugee crisis in Europe and others.

The current session’s participants will discuss an entire scope of issues related to the encouragement and protection of human rights. There will be a number of issue-specific discussions and dialogues with the council’s special bodies and auxiliaries. These issues include unilateral forced measures in the context of human rights, the status of indigenous people, measures to prevent racism, xenophobia and intolerance, the situation in Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Sri Lanka and other states. We expect the adoption of a substantial number of resolutions and decisions, and a discussion of the results of the Universal Periodic Review of 14 countries including the US.

The session programme includes a large number of events, discussions and workshops. Specifically, on September 18, several Russian NGOs are planning a conference on human rights in Ukraine. On September 21, a joint Russian-Belarusian workshop will discuss the prevention of human organ trafficking.

The session will continue until October 2, 2015.

                                                                                    September 15, 2015