Statement by India at Virtual joint consultation with the President of the Human Rights Council on the proposal for the resumption of HRC sessions, delivered by Ambassador Rajiv K. Chander,

Permanent Representative of India [Monday, 08 June 2020, Geneva]

Madam President,

We thank you for having this consultation on the resumption of the 43^rd HRC session as well as holding of the 44^th HRC session. We appreciate the revised Concept Note of 4^th June 2020. We support the statement made by the Like-Minded Group (LMG).

2 The Concept Note mentions that the Council could resume its activities as the Programme of Work for the 43^rd session had been approved on 26 February 2020. As far as we understand, any decision including the date for resumption of the 43^rd HRC session should be decided by Member States.

3. Coming to the Concept Note, we thank you for the serious attempts made to address the concerns and issues raised by several States. We appreciate the adjustments made to address our concerns regarding mandatory in-person meetings for the HRC sessions. We further encourage that technical solutions may be explored further for enabling a virtual voting process.

4. Another area of clarification we need is regarding the details of contact tracing before a decision is taken on physical meetings.

5. Lastly, the Bureau should build consensus on the proposals made in the Concept Note so that any decision taken for resumption of meetings has the support of one and all across the Groups.

Thank you, Madam President.