UN Human Rights Council to hold special session on August 24 on Afghanistan

The Human Rights Council will hold a special session on Tuesday, August (24) to address the “serious human rights concerns and situation in Afghanistan”. The move was made by Afghanistan and OIC and India backed the move.

The special session is being convened following an official request submitted on August 17 jointly by Pakistan, Coordinator of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and Afghanistan, which has been supported by 89 States thus far.

In order for a special session to be convened, the support of one-third of the 47 members of the Council – 16 or more - is required. The request was supported thus far by the following States Members of the Council (29): Argentina, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Czechia, Denmark, France, Gabon, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Libya, Mauritania, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, United Kingdom, and Uzbekistan.


The request was also supported thus far by the following observer States (60): Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Benin, Brunei Darussalam, Chad, Comoros, Croatia, Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Gambia, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Suriname, Sweden, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Yemen and the State of Palestine.

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

The special session will take place in a hybrid format.

In connection with this special session, the Council will convene an organizational meeting on August 23 when specific details on the special session and its scenario will be announced.