Minutes of the Human Rights Council Bureau
26 September 2016
On 26 September 2016, the Bureau held a meeting to discuss: (1) letter from the Director-General of UNOG; and (2) AOB. 
 Letter from the Director-General of UNOG
The President recalled the main issue raised in the letter of H.E. Mr. Michael Møller, Director-General of UNOG, to the President of the Council dated 9 August 2016 (available on the HRC Extranet) and reiterated in the statements of both the Director-General and Ms. Catherine Pollard, USG/DGACM, at the Organizational meeting of the Council on 31 August 2016, that the UNOG will only be able to provide support for a total of 135 meetings in 2017, and 130 per year beyond 2017. 
	The President further recalled that by the end of 2016, the Council will have reached a record of 153 meetings for the whole of the year. Considering the current level of meetings and assuming that it would remain the same next year, a reduction of 18 meetings for 2017 would be needed to meet the request of UNOG. 
The Bureau exchanged views on possible technical arrangements to address this matter and next steps. It was agreed that the President will convene informal consultations with Member States in October, inviting States to make concrete suggestions and ideas on how to reduce the number of HRC meetings for 2017 and beyond. For the purpose of the consultations, the Bureau requested the Secretariat to produce an outline of the currently anticipated programme of work for 2017, with indicative time frames for all debates and other activities on the basis of relevant resolutions and statistical data.  
It was also agreed that the President will request to meet USG Catherine Pollard and other counterparts to discuss this issue during his mission to New York in early November to present the annual report of the HRC to the GA.
AOB
The Bureau exchanged views on the visits of dignitaries to the Council and confirmed its understanding that the custom suggests that visiting dignitaries make statements relevant to the work of the Council and should be encouraged to do so. 











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