To facilitate the participation of NGOs, registration of NGO oral statements online is available as of 07h00 (Greenwich Mean Time), Monday, 1 March 2010.

Requests will be taken on a first-come-first-served basis, taking into account the time logged at the time of registration, and the priority indicated.

• All NGOs must confirm their registration as well as the name of the speaker in person at the List of Speakers Desk in Room XX 24 hours preceding the relevant meeting.
• Where the speaker is an ECOSOC-accredited representative not from the inscribing NGO, the President or the Chief Executive Officer from the latter must authorize this in writing.
• To take the floor, NGO speakers should use the conference-table seat reserved for that purpose.
• Please note that 25 copies of the oral statement are to be made available and handed to Conference Services at the beginning of the relevant meeting. Conference Services staff can be approached at the back of the plenary room. Photocopiers are available beside the Secretariat offices. Copies of NGO oral statements may be placed by NGOs on the tables at the back of the plenary room only, after delivery of the relevant statement.
• NGOs are not permitted to distribute documents, pamphlets or any other material in the conference room. Reserved desks will be available outside the plenary room for display of NGO documentation. Such documentation should be attributable to NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC (i.e. logos displayed).

MODALITIES FOR NGO ORAL STATEMENTS

The following modalities apply for speaking time arrangements relating to NGOs in regular sessions of the HRC. They take into account arrangements developed in this regard since the first session of the Human Rights Council (HRC), and applied at previous HRC sessions, and aim at assisting accredited NGOs when planning and managing their oral interventions.

UPDATE/INTERACTIVE DIALOGUE WITH HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

• NGOs’ individual interventions/questions are up to 3 minutes each.

GENERAL DEBATES

• NGOs’ individual statements are up to 2 minutes each.
• NGOs’ joint statements with a large number of co-signatories (i.e. three or more) are given priority and placed on top of the list.
• No additional time is to be allocated to NGOs’ joint statements.

INTERACTIVE DIALOGUE WITH SPECIAL PROCEDURES MANDATE-HOLDERS

• The total time available for NGOs’ interventions in Interactive dialogues with mandate-holders is 10 minutes per Special Rapporteur. The overall time will depend on how the Interactive Dialogues are grouped (e.g. one, two or three Special Rapporteurs per meeting).
• NGOs’ individual interventions/questions in Interactive dialogues with Special Procedure mandate-holders are up to 2 minutes each, when the relevant Special Procedure mandate-holder features individually, and up to 3 minutes each when Special Procedure mandate-holders are clustered in a group.
• Other observers’ interventions, including NGOs’, are to be taken up prior to the mandate-holders’ final comments.
• Interventions in Interactive dialogues should focus on questions and comments related to the Special Procedures’ reports under consideration.
• NGO coordination is strongly encouraged to maximize the use of total time available to NGOs.

MODALITIES FOR PANELS

• NGOs may present comments and questions of up to 2 minutes each.

Please note: Given limited speaking slots, NGOs are requested to prioritize their requests for oral statements.