Below is an extract from an announcement made by the United Nations Offices at Geneva (UNOG);

The Human Rights Council will hold its main annual session at the Palais des Nations in Geneva beginning 12 March, until 5 April.

The fourth session of the Council will mark the beginning of its second year of existence, after it replaced the Commission on Human Rights in 2006.

The Council was established by the United Nations General Assembly in its Resolution 60/251, of 15 March 2006. (…)

[Read the Resolution]

The Geneva-based Human Rights Council, which consists of 47 Member States elected on 9 May 2006, will hold no fewer than three sessions per year (including a main session). The Council will also be able to hold special sessions, when needed, at the request of a member of the Council with the support of one-third of the membership of the Council.

[List of Current Council Membership]

The Council shall be responsible for promoting universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of any kind and in a fair and equal manner.

Following the historic adoption of the General Assembly resolution establishing the Council on 15 March 2006, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that the creation of the Council «gives the United Nations the chance – a much-needed chance – to make a new beginning in its work for human rights around the world».

As world leaders acknowledged during the World Summit in September 2005 in New York, the Human Rights Council has been established in replacement of the Commission on Human Rights, as a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly.

For further information on the Human Rights Council session, please visit:

[Provisional Agenda of the Fourth Session]

[UNOG News and Media Centre]