The Universal Periodic Review: Equality and effectiveness

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process has gained new momentum with the completion of its second session, held in Geneva from 5 to 19 May. The two-week meeting, which included dialogue between countries, reviewed the human-rights records of 16 States.

The UPR was established in 2007 by the Human Rights Council to evaluate, on the basis of objective and reliable information, if States were fulfilling their human rights obligations and commitments.

The effectiveness of this mechanism depends on “the willingness of countries to be open to genuine scrutiny,” says High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour. She notes the considerable amount of effort that has gone into fleshing out “the inherent characteristics of the UPR, namely the universality of its coverage and the equal treatment of all member States of the United Nations.”

The High Commissioner has called the UPR process “the most distinguishing and innovative procedure” of the Human Rights Council, and believes it “may offer a baseline to evaluate progress, correct deficiencies, and devise remedial actions.” Indeed, Ms Arbour says the UPR “may also prevent violations and sound an early warning on impending crises.”

The inclusiveness of the UPR process has played an important part in its development. States are encouraged to gather the information for their reports through national consultations with all relevant stakeholders. All credible information provided by stakeholders is summarized by OHCHR for consideration by the Council.

If the countries reviewed in the first UPR session in April are included, by now 32 nations have had their human rights records reviewed. A third session in December, which will look at another 16 countries, will mark the completion of the first year of the four-year cycle of reviews that completes one round of the UPR system.

A total of 48 United Nations Member States will be reviewed each year, and all members of the Human Rights Council will be reviewed during their terms of membership.

The 16 countries reviewed in the latest UPR session were Benin, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, France, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mali, Pakistan, Peru, Romania, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tonga, Ukraine and Zambia. The reports adopted for the 16 countries are available on the extranet.