A/HRC/15/44 Report of the seventeenth meeting of special rapporteurs/representatives, independent experts and chairs of working groups of the special procedures of the Human Rights Council (Geneva, 28 June-2 July 2010) Rapporteur: Shamsul Bari Summary The seventeenth annual meeting of special procedures was held in Geneva from 28 June to 2 July 2010. A list of the special procedures of the Human Rights Council and mandate holders attending the seventeenth annual meeting appears in the annex. Participants elected Ms. Najat Maalla M’jid Chair of the seventeenth annual meeting and of the Coordination Committee. Mr. Shamsul Bari was elected Rapporteur for the meeting and a member of the Committee. Ms. Catarina de Albuquerque, Mr. Githu Muigai, Ms. Mirjana Najcevska and Ms. Raquel Rolnik were endorsed as members of the Committee selected by the Chair. Mandate holders held exchanges of views with the Deputy High Commissioner, the President of the Council and members of the Bureau, the former President of the Council, and with States. Participants held discussions with participants in the eleventh InterCommittee Meeting of treaty bodies, as well as with representatives of United Nations entities, field presences of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, representatives of non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions. Discussions focused on the independence and effectiveness of the special procedures, harmonization of working methods, and the approach of the system of special procedures to the Human Rights Council review. Participants stressed the importance of strengthening the special procedures system through the review and emphasized the importance of according them the possibility to participate in the process as equal partners. They agreed on a proactive role to be assumed by the Coordination Committee and mandate holders in the review process. They also discussed the role of special procedures in early warning and natural disasters and coordinated follow-up to the work of human rights mechanisms, including special procedures, treaty bodies and the universal periodic review. They noted the appointment of 11 new mandate holders during the thirteenth and fourteenth sessions of the Council, welcomed new mandate holders participating in the annual meeting for the first time, and paid tribute to outgoing mandate holders. 2