Universal Periodic Review

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Opportunities for civil society participation in
the Universal Periodic Review

• Submission of information for the stakeholder
  summary
• 5-page documents with information on key human
  rights challenges in state under review
• Gaps in legislation, discriminatory legislation,
  gaps in ratification of human rights treaties
• Specific human rights situations, incidents and
  illustrative cases
• Recommendations for action by the state under
  review
• Purpose To contribute to the information basis
  for the review
• Tools Documents produced over previous 4 year
  period, internal guidelines for UPR submissions,
  emerging good practice

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Opportunities for civil society participation in
the Universal Periodic Review

• Alerting civil society in countries coming up for
  review
• A states preparation for the UPR is a key
  opportunity for consultation with civil society
  groups and organizations
• Purpose
• To focus review on key human rights issues in
  country under review
• To establish ongoing consultations between civil
  society and the government
• To anchor UPR process at the national level
• Tools
• 1-page alert in 4-5 languages disseminated via AI
  sections and contacts and partners in country
  under review
• QA to explain purpose and process of UPR
• Model letters to encourage the government to hold
  a consultation

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Opportunities for civil society participation in
the Universal Periodic Review

• Lobby states in advance of reviews at the
  national level, via embassies and in Geneva
• Both states under review and reviewing states
  can be targeted by civil society
• Purpose to ensure that key human rights issues
  are addressed in the dialogue in the UPR Working
  Group and that concrete recommendations are made
  to the state under review
• Tools
• Submissions
• Compilation of recommendations
• Identification of key states to target
• Model letter

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Opportunities for civil society participation in
the Universal Periodic Review

• Oral statements in the Human Rights Council
  before UPR outcomes are adopted
• NGOs with ECOSOC accreditation may participate
  in the Council session at which UPR outcomes are
  adopted
• Purpose
• To comment on the review in the UPR Working Group
• To recommend key recommendations for early
  implementation
• To highlight any gaps in the review
• Tools
• Oral statements which can also be issued as a
  public statement, posted on website, and sent to
  governments, UN missions and media contacts
• Webcast of oral statement for national level
  promotion

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Opportunities for civil society participation in
the Universal Periodic Review

• Ongoing advocacy to encourage early and full
  implementation of the UPR outcome by the state
  reviewed
• The recommendations made by reviewing states as
  well as any voluntary commitments by the state
  reviewed are key outcomes of the UPR, and should
  complement other UN recommendations
• Purpose
• To ensure the UPR has impact on the ground
• To give prompt effect to UPR recommendations
• To continue partnerships at national level
• Tools
• Analysis of UPR outcome and recommendations
• Membership letters to governments, embassies,
  troika rapporteurs media work
• Partnerships with other civil society groups

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Achieving the key objectives of the UPR

• Some lessons learned so far
• Civil society engagement has to be strategic,
  timely, targeted, and sustained
• Strategic UPR is a continuous and complex
  process for 192 countries. Civil society needs to
  focus limited resources on key opportunities for
  impact
• Timely Be aware of deadlines
• For civil society submissions some 5-6 months
  before the review
• The timeframe for states to produce the national
  report to ensure inclusion in their
  consultation.
• The timeframe for reviewing states to prepare for
  reviews in the UPR Working Group

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Achieving the key objective of the UPR

• Some lessons learned so far
• Targeted
• Focus on key human rights concerns in the
  country under review when submitting information
• Suggest concrete, measurable action for the state
  under review to address human rights concerns
• Complement lobby efforts with media work, public
  events
• Use emblematic cases to illustrate human rights
  violations
• Sustained
• Maintain focus after the dialogue in the UPR
  Working Group
• Lobby states to accept as many recommendations as
  possible before adoption of the outcome by the
  Council.
• Lobby states to establish a plan for the
  implementation of the UPR outcome and to monitor
  progress

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UPR as information source

• The information generated by the UPR is useful
  beyond the review in the Human Rights Council.
  The three key documents each views the human
  rights situation from the point of view of
• The government under review the national report
• The UNs human rights mechanisms the UN
  compilation
• National and international civil society the
  stakeholder summary
• The outcome of review - the recommendations
  accepted by the state under review and any
  voluntary commitments by the state