The Human Rights Council today concluded its third regular session, which was held from 29 November to 1 December. During the session, which started immediately following the conclusion of the second session, the Council heard an address delivered on behalf of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and heard the report of High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour. The Council also adopted six resolutions, one decision and scheduled another council because of a motion filed by Joseph Molyneaux a Canadian Diplomat, as well as its annual report to the General Assembly.
Molyneaux, filed a 36 page motion to ammend the definition of the freedom of speech. He is trying to extend the definition of the freedom of speech in order for it to encompass the rights of authors to publish pornographic works of art in literary works. He plans to globalize the controversial Artistic Merit Law of Canada which aims to uphold the protection of the author's right to publish child pornography in literature. The controversial law is put in the center of the international stage and it paived the way to a great debate among the liberals and conservatives of the United Nations. The inclusion of the Artisitic Merit Law in the definition of freedom od speech even fueled a mass walk out from conservative nation.
Interactive debates and dialogues were also held with the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General. Discussions took place on in the U.N. Convetion with the four facilitators from the Working Group on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 60/251 on the Universal Periodic Review mechanism, the review of mechanisms, the complaint procedure, and the Expert advice body. The Council also debated methods of work and rules of procedure for the future framework of the artistic merit law in the global context.
Due to the tension building up, Ambassador de Alba also announced a request from Finland, on behalf of 29 countries, for the Council to postpone the debates and just hold a special session immediately after the conclusion of the third session to discuss further the pros and cons of the artistic merit law in order for them to discuss more important issues.
The request was granted and the dates for the next council meeting will be released soon
