There are a number of upcoming opportunities for civil society groups to engage with the UN human rights systems.

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

The 33^rd Session of the Human Rights Council will be held on 13 September to 30 September 2016. The documents relating to this session are available here.

BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS FORUM

The 5^thUnited Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights will be held on 14 November to 16 November 2016. Information about the Forum is available here.

UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW

The 26^th Universal Periodic Review will take place on 31 October to 11 November 2016, in which the following States will be reviewed: Togo, the Syrian Arab republic, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Iceland, Zimbabwe, Lithuania, Uganda, Timor Leste, Republic of Moldova, Haiti, and South Sudan. Information on NGO participation is available here. General information about the Universal Periodic Review is available here.

TREATY BODIES

The 59^th session of the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights will be held on 19 September to 7 October 2016. The Committee will consider the following state reports: Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominican Republic Lebanon, Philippines, Poland, and Tunisia. The Programme of work is available here, and the information note for civil society is available here. The 58^th pre-session Working Group will be held on 10 October to 14 October 2016.

The 11^th session of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances will be held on 3 October to 14 October 2016.  The Committee will analyse the following state reports: Bosnia and Herzegovina and Colombia. It will also consider the list of issues of the following state parties: Cuba, Ecuador, and Senegal. The Programme of work is available here, and the information note for NGOs is available here.

The 118^th session of the Human Rights Committee will be held on 17 October to 4 November 2016, in which the following state parties’ country reports will be analysed: Azerbaijan, Colombia, Jamaica, Morocco, Poland, Republic of Moldova, and Slovakia. Country Report Task Forces of the Committee will also consider and adopt list of issues on the following countries: Honduras, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Mongolia, and Pakistan. The Task Forces will also adopt the list of issues prior to reporting of the following countries: Paraguay and Togo. Finally, the Committee will consider individual complaints regarding Kyrgyzstan and the Russian Federation. The programme of work is available here, and the information note for NGOs is available here.

The 65^th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women will be held on 24 October to 18 November 2016, in which the following state parties’ country reports will be considered: Argentina, Armenia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bhutan, Burundi, Canada, Estonia, Honduras, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. The programme of work is available here, and the information note for NGOs is available here. The 77^th session of the pre-sessional Working Group of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women will be held on 21 November to 25 November 2016.

WORKING GROUPS

The 110^th session of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances will be held 19 September to 23 September 2016. Information about the Working Group and the latest reports it issued can be found here.

The 15^th session of the Working Group on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises will be held on 26 September to 30 September 2016. Information about the Working Group is available here.

The 2^nd session of the Open-ended intergovernmental Working Group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights will be held on 24 October to 28 October 2016. The deadline for written contributions has been extended to 30 September 2016. More information is available here.

The 77^th session of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention will be held on 21 November to 25 November 2016. Information on the Working Group is available here.

COUNTRY VISITS BY SPECIAL PROCEDURES

Find more information on these visits here. To find out how you can support the visits, please contact respective mandate-holders via their email address, as listed in the directory.