The 23rd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council commenced its work at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on 27 May 2013.

Throughout its 3-weeks work the Council will address a wide range of human rights issues. A number of interactive dialogues with 21 mandate holders of the Special Procedures with thematic and country mandates, including the Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria, will be convened during the session. Four thematic panel discussions will also be held in the course of the session, including two in the framework of an annual day of discussion.

Further, The Council will also consider and adopt the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) outcomes on 13 countries reviewed at the fifteenth session of the UPR Working Group held in January this year.

The delegation Ukraine, headed by the Permanent Representative of Ukraine in Geneva Ambassador Mykola Maimeskul, participates in the work of the session as an observer.