Geneva, January 22, 2008 (WAFA) - Sri Lanka joined on Tuesday the call for a Special Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on the violations arising from the Israeli incursions into occupied Palestinian territory.

Sri Lanka joined 21 other states including India, Pakistan, China, Russia, Brazil and South Africa in calling for the Special Session to be held on Wednesday, 23 January 2008 at the United Nations in Geneva.

The Human Rights Council will hold a Special Session at the request of the Group of Arab States and the Group of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to consider and take action on “human rights violations emanating from Israeli military incursions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the recent ones in occupied Gaza and the West Bank town of Nablus”.

In order for a Special Session to be convened, the support of one-third of the membership of the Council (16 members or more) is required. The request for the Special Session was signed by the following Member States of the Council: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, China, Djibouti, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Syria and Uruguay.

The Special Session will start at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, 23 January in Room XVII. There is a possibility that it will continue on Thursday, 24 January.

This will be the fourth Special Session which the Human Rights Council holds relating to Israel. The first one concerned Israel’s military incursion in Lebanon and the other two related to Israel’s actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The Council has also held Special Sessions on the situation in Darfur, Sudan and Myanmar.