On 2 March 2020, the Bureau held an urgent meeting to discuss the global COVID-19 situation and its implications for the 43 rd session of the Human Rights Council. (1) Implications of the global COVID-19 situation for the 43 rd session of the Human Rights Council The President of the Human Rights Council informed the Bureau that she had received a letter from the UNOG Director-General earlier on the same day (attached), concerning the global COVID-19 situation and its implications for the 43 rd session of the Human Rights Council. In her letter, the Director-General made reference to the letter sent on 28 February 2020 by the Secretary-General to the Chair of the 64th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (also attached) and suggested that the Bureau of the Human Rights Council adopted a similar approach to that recommended for the CSW. The UNOG Director-General specified that this would entail canceling all side events and encouraging representatives to refrain from traveling to Geneva for the rest of the session. She also suggested that those Special Procedures mandate holders who are not already in Geneva could be encouraged to participate in the session via video-conferencing. The Bureau discussed the letter of the UNOG Director-General and, in light of the urgency of the current situation, decided to follow her recommendations. These measures will be effective as of tomorrow, 3 March 2020, until the end of the session. The Bureau also decided that all delegations should be informed as soon as possible via e-mail, SMS alert and by an announcement by the President in the plenary.
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