Commission des droits de l'homme

OHCHR NGO Liaison Officer

Depending on the outcome of the New York-held negotiations on the establishment of the new Human Rights Council and notwithstanding any relevant decision that may be adopted on this matter by the General Assembly and the ECOSOC, the 62nd session of the Commission on Human Rights will meet to continue its work on 13 March 2006.

Before and during the session, an NGO Liaison Unit led by Ms. Laura Dolci-Kanaan will be in charge of facilitating the participation of NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC in the work of the Commission. Prior to 13 March, Ms. Dolci-Kanaan can be reached at +41 22 917 9656, and/or ldolci-kanaan@ohchr.org.

While still unable at this stage to inform participants about the modalities of the 62nd session of the Commission, as in previous years, NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC can submit written statements in accordance with paragraphs 36 and 37 of ECOSOCO resolution 1996/31. Written statements should be sent to the Secretariat of the Commission on Human Rights until 13 February 2006 (e-mail address: ngochr@ohchr.org, Mailing address: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Humna rights, Room PW 2065, Palais des Nations, 8-14 avenue de la Paix, CH 1211 Geneva 10; Tel. +41 (0) 22 917 9656, Fax: +41 (0) 22 917 9011). The attention is drawn to the fact that the Secretariat will not be able to ensure the timely circulation of written statements late in submission.

NGOs are encouraged to provide the Secretariat with the text of their statements in the different working languages of the United Nations (English, French and Spanish) by e-mail (ngochr@ohchr.org) or on diskette. The maximum length of written statements is 2,000 words for NGOs in general consultative status with ECOSOC and 1,500 words for NGOs in special consultative status and for NGOs on the Roster.

The Secretariat was informed about a recently-established NGO Information and Coordination Mechanism (not formally-linked to the United Nations) information on which can be accessed through:

[English - French - Spanish]