Delegates from the 47 member-countries of the UN Human Rights Council will meet in special session in Geneva on Friday to discuss the situation in Lebanon, Itar-Tass reported Friday. A group of Arab states and the Organization of the Islamic Conference member countries initiated the discussion. They are expected to strongly criticize Israel for human rights violations in the course of the military operation in Lebanon and press for the adoption of a corresponding resolution. Tunisia's ambassador has addressed the Council's chairman with a message to draw his attention to the Kana massacre, fire attacks against innocent civilians and destruction of vital civilian infrastructures. Under the UN General Assembly's resolution a special session of the UN Human Rights Council can be convened, if the motion is supported by a third of the council's members. Sixteen countries, including Russia, supported the proposal for a discussion of the situation in Lebanon. This is going to be a second special session since the UN Human Rights Council was founded. The Council is a new human rights body that replaced the UN commission for human rights on June 19. The previous session, held in Geneva on July 5-6 was devoted to the situation in the Palestinian territories. A resolution urging Israel to stop combat operations was approved by a majority vote. The council demanded the immediate release of all arrested Palestinian ministers, legislators and officials, according to a report of Malaysian News Agency "Bernama."
