Minutes of the Human Rights Council Bureau 29 April 2016 On 29April 2016, the Bureau held a meeting to discuss: (1) the drawing by lots of the list of speakers for the 25th session of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group; (2) availability of official documentation (follow up to the Bureau meeting of 23 February 2016); (3) the preparations for the 32nd session of the Council; and (4) AOB. Drawing by lots of the list of speakers for the twenty-fifth session of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group In conformity with the modalities set forth in Council decision 17/119, the Bureau proceeded to the drawing by lots of the lists of speakers for the 25th session of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group to be held from 2 to 13 May 2015. The secretariat informed that they will be circulating the lists to all Permanent Missions and make available on the HRC Extranet. Availability of official documentation In follow up to the Bureau meeting of 23 February 2016, the Bureau considered a note prepared by the Conference Services Division of UNOG with suggestions on how to improve the situation. Mr. Movses Abelian, Assistant Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management, was invited to present the paper and provide additional information to the Bureau. Although the Division was working on different levels to improve the situation, the main cause of late processing of official documentation has been caused by a significant increase in workload in terms of the number of mandates created by the Council. The Bureau agreed that there should be consideration by the Council to reduce the number and length of official documents and decided to raise the awareness of these issues by circulating the paper to all Member States. In addition, the Bureau encouraged Conference Services Division of UNOG to continue looking at different alternatives for improvement. The focus of attention and discussion was on the availability of advanced unedited versions of documents in time for their constructive consideration by delegations and on the practice of UN bodies such as the Security Council or the Fifth Committee in this regard. The Bureau asked the Secretariat to prepare a paper on the practice of UN bodies in relation to the availability of advanced unedited version of documents. The note by the DGACM is appended for ease of reference. Preparations for the 32nd session of the Council Programme of work: The President informed the Bureau that the organizational meeting for the 32nd session of the Council will be held on Monday, 30 May at 15h00. With regard to the programme of work prepared by the Secretariat, the Bureau took note of the efforts to address the concern raised by the OIC Coordinator and members that the session collides with Ramadan. In order to facilitate the participation in the session of delegates who would be observing the fast during the month of Ramadan, the Bureau decided that on most days the working hours during the session would start from 10 am at the earliest and last until 6 pm at the latest, without breaks. The programme of work will be made available shortly. Online inscription system for the list of speakers: The Secretariat was invited to inform the Bureau of the possible options to facilitate inscription in the list of speakers for General Debates by putting in place an online inscription system. The electronic system could be piloted at the June session, in which case the system would open on Friday before the session and delegations would be able to register and to upload their statements that would then be posted on the Extranet. Those delegations facing technical difficulties would retain the possibility to secure assistance from the Secretariat behind room XX throughout the day on Friday. Observing that the existence of various methods for inscription for General Debates, clustered IDs and panel discussions could lead to confusion and needless workload, the Bureau asked the Secretariat to prepare for its next meeting a paper presenting a possible unified system for inscription for all discussions, including different options for generating lists of speakers in both the order of inscription and in alphabetic order, as well as technical possibilities for randomly assigning the order of speakers. Mandate holders to be appointed at the session: The President informed the Bureau that the Consultative Group had started to review the applications for the following mandates: Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; Special Rapporteur on the right to education; Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; and Member from Western European and other States of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. AOB The President’s mission to United Nations Headquarters in New York: The President briefed the Bureau about his mission to United Nations Headquarters (20-22 April 2016), in particular his meetings with the President of the General Assembly, Chairs of the Third Committee and ACABQ, senior UN officials and other stakeholders, which focused on the strengthening of the institutional relationship between the General Assembly and other New York-based bodies, and the Human Rights Council. The President invited the Chair of the Third Committee to visit Geneva again before the 32nd session. Improving the methods of work of the Council: In response to the President’s request, Vice-President Ambassador Janis Karklins of Latvia agreed to hold informal consultations in order to collect ideas and suggestions on how to improve the working methods of the Council. Calendar of meetings for 2017: The Bureau took note of the dates for the 2017 Council sessions set by UNOG and noted another significant overlap between the June session and the month of Ramadan. Task Force on Accessibility: The Vice-President acting as the focal point of the Bureau on accessibility for persons with disabilities, Ambassador Ramón Alberto Morales Quijano of Panama, informed the Bureau that he will be convening a meeting of the Task Force on accessibility for persons with disabilities on 12 May 2016 at 15:00 in room VII. He further informed that the meetings of the Task Force are open to all interested stakeholders and invitations will be shortly circulated through the regional coordinators. ***   \* MERGEFORMAT 1