With the opening statements by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and High Commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay the 21st session of the UN Human Rights Council commenced its work at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on 10 September 2012.

During the 3-week session the Council will hear presentations from 19 Independent Human Rights Experts and Bodies as well as the Latest Report by the Commission on Inquiry on Syria, and will convene a number of interactive discussions on pressing human rights issues, in particular on gender integration, economic, social and cultural rights and the empowerment of women; cooperation with United Nations mechanisms and on access of indigenous peoples to justice. Besides, the Council will hold general debates on human rights situations that require the Council’s attention.

The Human Rights Council will also approve the outcomes of the Universal Periodic Reviews of the first 14 countries reviewed in May-June 2012, will take action on the decisions and resolutions before it and will make appointments for its subsidiary bodies, including appointment of a Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus.
The delegation of Ukraine, headed by the Permanent Representative of Ukraine in Geneva Ambassador Mykola Maimeskul, participates in the work of the session as an observer.