GENEVA (5 May 2023) - The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold a special session to address “the human rights impact of the ongoing conflict in the Sudan”. The special session will be held on Thursday, 11 May, commencing at 10h00 (GMT+2) in room 20 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The meeting is open to the media and will be webcast live on webtv.un.org in the six official languages of the UN. The special session is being convened per an official request submitted Friday evening (5 May) jointly by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Kingdom of Norway, the United States of America, and the Federal Republic of Germany, which has been supported by 52 States thus far. For a special session to be convened, the support of one-third of the 47 members of the Council – 16 or more – is required. This request was thus far supported by the following States members of the Council (19): Argentina, Belgium, Chile, Costa Rica, Czechia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Montenegro, Paraguay, Romania, Ukraine, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America. The request was also supported by the following 33 observer States: Albania, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Uruguay. The list of signatories remains open up to the holding of the special session. Therefore, the above list of States is to be considered provisional. In connection with this special session, the Council will convene an organisational meeting on Wednesday, 10 May at 15h00 (GMT+2) when specific details on the special session and its scenario will be announced. This meeting is also public and will be webcast. This will be the 36th special session of the Council. Full list of HRC special sessions here. //ENDS// For more information and media requests, please contact Pascal Sim, HRC Media Officer, at simp@un.org and David Díaz Martín, HRC Public Information Officer, at david.diazmartin@un.org