Universal Periodic Review

What is the Universal Periodic Review? How is it relevant to my work? 

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) was created by the General Assembly in 2006 and is carried out by an inter-governmental working group of the Human Rights Council (HRC). The objective of the UPR is to review the fulfillment of the human rights commitments and obligations of all 193 UN member states as set out in: a) the UN Charter; b) the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; c) human rights instruments to which the state is party (human rights treaties ratified by the state concerned); d) voluntary pledges and commitments made by the state (e.g. national human rights policies and/or programmes implemented); and e) applicable international humanitarian law. It is a state-driven peer review mechanism, whereby all the UN member states are reviewed on the same terms.

The review is based on the following documents:

• Information provided by the state under review, which normally takes the form of a ‘national report’;
• Information compiled from reports of special procedures of the HRC, human rights treaty bodies and UN entities (‘Compilation of UN information’, prepared by OHCHR);
• Information from other stakeholders, including national human rights institutions (NHRIs) and civil society organizations (CSOs) (‘Summary of stakeholders’ information’, prepared by OHCHR).

The actual review takes place in a 3.5-hour interactive dialogue in the UPR Working Group (composed of 47 member states of the HRC). During the session, the Government concerned has an opportunity to present its national report and is then followed by an opportunity for UN member and observer states to ask questions and propose recommendations. Each review is assisted by groups of three states, known as “troikas”, who serve as rapporteurs. The recommendations from the interactive dialogue are included in the Working Group report. The state under review has the opportunity to make its positions known on the received recommendations, choosing to either support or note them. The final UPR outcome report with clear positions on all recommendations received is then adopted at the HRC plenary session.

The UPR is set up in 4.5-year cycles, so that states’ human rights records will be continuously reviewed. The HRC holds three UPR Working Group sessions annually. Since the second cycle, the focus of the review is on the implementation of supported recommendations and human rights developments in the state under review.

For the latest UPR cycle reviews click on https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/upr/cycles-upr. 

How is the UPR relevant to UN Country Teams?

The objective of the UPR is to review the status of all UN member states’ human rights obligations. It also allows the sharing of good practices among states and other stakeholders and ultimately aims at the improvement of the human rights situation nationally. While experts make recommendations in the treaty bodies and special procedures mechanisms, the UPR is a state-driven process, whereby the state itself voluntarily endorses the recommendations provided by its peers. The list of endorsed recommendations can thus provide an ideal entry point for discussions between the government and the UN about areas where they would like to get technical assistance and advice. The UPR process can be divided into three distinct phases: (i) prior to the review; (ii) during the review; and (iii) after the review. Each phase of the UPR process can be valuable for the work of UNCTs.

Prior to the review: what are the benefits of being involved?

Prior to the review, the documents on which the reviews are based are prepared, i.e. the national report, the compilation of UN information and the summary of stakeholders’ information. All three reports are equally important as they offer different perspectives on the human rights situation in the country. These reports for the subsequent cycles should assess the level of implementation of the recommendations received and look into the human rights situation in the country since the preceding review. They are made publicly available in advance of the respective county’s review in the UPR Working Group (go to https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/upr/documentation). 

What can UNCTs do to support the UPR process prior to the review?

UNCTs can support states and other relevant stakeholders in building their capacity to more actively engage with the UPR through awareness-raising and advocacy. UNCTs can also facilitate the reporting process, by providing information about the guidelines for UPR written submissions.

The preparation of the national report by the state under review should follow a national consultation process with relevant stakeholders, including local authorities, trade unions, community and religious leaders, the NHRI, human rights defenders as well as CSOs, among others. UNCTs play an important role in this process by:

1. Providing technical assistance in the form of advising on the reporting procedure and format as well as the content of the report;
2. Providing the necessary knowledge and awareness about the UPR to the state and stakeholders to enable/motivate their involvement in the national consultation process;
3. Providing a platform and facilitating the dialogue for governments, NHRIs, NGOs and other CSOs to discuss critical human rights challenges.

UNCTs can also support states’ efforts to report to, and implement recommendations emanating from UPR, the treaty bodies and special procedures in a holistic manner through encouraging the establishment of national mechanisms for implementation, reporting and follow up (NMIRF) and of national recommendations tracking databases (NRTD). 

A NMIRF is a domestic structure that collects information regarding the human rights situation in the country from different sources; shares information with stakeholders (Parliament, judiciary, NHRIs, specialized bodies, civil society); responds to queries from international and regional human rights mechanisms; coordinates follow-up by state actors to recommendations emanating from international and regional human rights mechanisms in a holistic manner; and keeps track of the implementation by the state of these recommendations. A NRTD enables states to import recommendations directly from the Universal Human Rights Index (UHRI) to cluster and prioritize them and to monitor the progress in their implementation.

The compilation of UN information report is derived from different sources of UN information, such as reports by special procedures, treaty bodies and UN agencies. UNCTs also have an important role to provide information by:

1. Drafting a joint UN submission to be incorporated in the compilation report by the UPR secretariat at OHCHR. In its submission, UNCTs should indicate clearly the status of implementation of UPR recommendations received by the state under review in the prior cycle, using specific recommendations paragraph numbers from the Working Group report. In this regard, UNCTs are encouraged to report on the status of all UPR recommendations, not only those supported by the state under review but also noted ones; 
2. Sending relevant information, such as National Human Development Reports or other publicly available UN reports prepared locally, to the UPR secretariat at OHCHR.

The report summarizing information from other relevant stakeholders is composed of individual submissions from NGOs, NHRIs, regional organizations or joint submissions based on a consortium of organizations. This information will be summarized by the UPR secretariat at OHCHR. This process can be supported by UNCTs by:

1. Providing a convening role and facilitating information sharing and cooperation between organizations;
2. Advising on the reporting format and disseminating information about the key phases of the UPR;
3. Ensuring that representatives of marginalized groups that are often excluded have a chance to participate in the reporting process.

The deadlines for submitting information for the UPR reviews, the guidelines and the link to the on-line UPR submissions registration system, are available at https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/upr/ngos-nhris

During the review: what are the benefits of being involved?

The actual review takes the form of an interactive dialogue between the state under review and the UN member and observer states of the UPR Working Group. The dates of the UPR sessions and the reviews of the respective countries can be found at https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/upr/upr-sessions. All the UPR Working Group sessions are also broadcast live on UN Web TV and can be viewed by anyone. All written submissions considered during the review are made publicly available on the UPR website prior to the review (go to https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/upr/documentation). 

It is important for UNCTs to be aware time in advance of when the review of the respective country is scheduled and to have reviewed all the written submissions, as well as to follow the UPR session proceedings. Awareness about the UPR and pledges made by the governments during the UPR sessions can be useful for UNCTs to identify gaps in human rights fulfilment and transparency in efforts to support accountability. UNCTs can also play an important role by providing information and facilitating a local dialogue.

After the review at the UPR Working Group, the UPR outcome report is adopted at the HRC plenary session (information of the plenary sessions is available at https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/sessions). During the adoption of the UPR Outcome, NHRIs with “A” status pursuant to the Paris Principles can speak directly following the state under review and increasingly are doing so by video tele-conference. Also, other stakeholders, including Resident Coordinators (RCs) and UN agencies, can take the floor by inscribing in the list of speakers. This gives the opportunity to UN agencies to raise relevant concerns and issue recommendations.

What can UNCTs do to support the UPR process during the review?

1. Assisting the state under review in participating in the review in Geneva by sharing information on the UPR Voluntary Fund for Participation created by the HRC in 2007;
2. Arranging for the live webcast of the UPR session to be broadcast and convening stakeholders and partners to watch, followed by a round table discussion;
3. Ensuring that the press is aware of UPR reports and recommendations and providing additional information, if needed;
4. Facilitating local access to UPR meetings - UN entities may facilitate local access to UPR meetings (via webcast, for example) by convening targeted or inclusive public screenings. This could also encourage national or local CSOs to engage more with the UPR process;
5. Organizing different activities, such as stakeholder consultations and seminars, in cooperation with development partners, government representatives from across ministries (depending on the thematic focus of the recommendations), and UNCTs;
6. Making necessary arrangements for the RCs and other UN agencies to take the floor during the adoption of the UPR Outcomes during the HRC plenary session.

After the review: what are the benefits of being involved?

The UPR review results in a UPR outcome report which contains the summary of the interactive dialogue, the responses by the state concerned to the questions and recommendations, and the full list of recommendations made by states. The reports with the recommendations are available on the UPR website (https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/upr/documentation). Since the second UPR cycle, the human rights records of the UN member states are reviewed to take stock of the extent of implementation of the recommendations received in the preceding review.

As UNCTs, it is important to realize that the work is not finished when the review session is over. The important implementation phase takes place between the review sessions, between cycles. By supporting the recommendations, the state under review commits to their implementation. The list of recommendations provides an excellent entry point and outlines a roadmap for UNCTs to discuss follow-up activities with government and development partners.

It is also to be noted that the HRC established, in 2007, the Voluntary Fund for Financial and Technical Assistance with a view to helping countries to implement UPR recommendations. UNCTs can assist states in applying for assistance under this Fund.

What can UNCTs do to support the UPR process after the review?

1. Providing support to states in developing institutional mechanisms and tools (such as inter-ministerial committees and recommendations tracking databases) with the task to coordinate states efforts in implementing recommendations of the UPR and other UN human rights bodies and mechanisms. A coordination mechanism will serve to highlight progress and obstacles where implementation needs to be supported and accelerated and/or where it would be helpful to establish prevention and response mechanisms in the case of a risk of serious violations;
2. Engaging in a discussion with government and development partners to develop strategies for implementing the UPR recommendations in a strategic manner. This can be done by means of thematically clustering the recommendations in a comprehensive national implementation plan to get an overview of the key areas for providing capacity development assistance and technical advice. Priority recommendations can be identified and targeted interventions planned or strategies for addressing a number of recommendations devised;
3. Providing support to existing national human rights mechanisms and assisting government agencies to develop National Plans of Action which address and incorporate the UPR recommendations;
4. Using the reports prepared in the UPR process as analytical input while preparing the UNSDCF or other country level programming, to identify priority areas as well as areas of concern where specific programming interventions should be developed;
5. Disseminating the outcome of the UPR review, supporting documentation in the local language, and using UPR recommendations as advocacy tools and entry points for policy dialogue on specific topics that are perceived as specifically sensitive;
6. Arranging awareness raising events such as seminars and brown bag lunches for UN staff and development partners to inform them about the UPR process and recommendations and further developing/strengthening dialogue and cooperation with relevant civil society actors and NHRIs, which will allow for their participation in the development of implementation and monitoring of national development plans and programmes.

Other actions could include:

• Convening civil society, the media, donors and government - UNCTs are in a unique position to facilitate greater engagement of civil society and vulnerable or marginalized groups in the UPR process, from the preparatory to the follow-up stages. Because different stakeholders have differing views on how the UPR recommendations should be implemented, providing a platform for discussion offers an opportunity for all sides to engage in useful dialogue;
• Suggest the use of the UPR recommendations as a guideline to carry out a more extensive review of existing human rights mechanisms (treaty bodies and special procedures) that apply to a country in order to assess how these can be mutually reinforcing and be fully utilized in advancing the implementation of the UPR recommendations;
• Supporting the establishment of independent NHRIs in specific countries, which could carry forward the work of pushing for the implementation of supported UPR recommendations;
• Assisting CSOs in monitoring states’ progress in implementing recommendations, including by supporting CSOs to submit and or publish the NGO reports alongside the mid-term reports released by states on their website, and encourage more states to submit progress reports.

UNCT Checklist for engaging with the UPR

Access the print-friendly version of the UNCT Checklist.

General checklist

• Know when the country is scheduled for the UPR. 
• Review the UPR information and reporting guidelines and deadlines for submissions to familiarize with the process.
• Read all the UPR reports for the country of the preceding cycles. 
• Know which government ministries and coordination mechanisms are in place to coordinate the UPR reporting and implementation. 
• Know who to contact in the local or regional OHCHR office to get support and advice on the UPR process. 

UPR pre-session checklist

• Assist the country with regards its participation in the UPR Working Group session in Geneva by liaising with the UPR Secretariat at OHCHR.
• Know who in the government is responsible for writing the national report and explore the need/interest for technical assistance. 
• Know if the NHRI and any CSOs are preparing individual or joint submissions and explore the need/interest for technical assistance. 
• Know if the UNCT is preparing a joint submission to be incorporated in the compilation report or if there is a coordinated effort to submit relevant reports to the UPR Secretariat at OHCHR. 

UPR in-session checklist

• Inform the local press and media about the UPR session in Geneva. 
• Participate in the review of the country by attending the Working Group session and/or making oral statements at the adoption of the UPR outcome in the HRC plenary session. 
• Organize a screening of the webcast UPR session and/or other outreach activities for development partners and civil society.    

UPR post-session checklist

• Provide support to states in establishing inter-ministerial committees (NMIRF) and NRTD in order to coordinate state efforts in implementing recommendations of all international and regional human rights mechanisms. 
• Review the UPR outcome report and identify opportunities for the recommendations to be included in UN planning and programming processes, such as the UNSDCF and other country level plans. 
• Engage in a discussion with relevant government partners about UN policy advisory services and technical assistance that can be provided to support the UPR follow-up process. 
• Engage in a discussion with relevant government partners about arranging a UPR midterm review.

Examples of implementation of recommendations emanating from the UPR 

Since the second cycle, the focus of the review is on enhanced implementation of recommendations received and supported by the state under review. UPR recommendations have been increasingly integrated and aligned in UN efforts at achieving the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development. UPR has also been essential to support dialogues and advocacy efforts by UNCTs and UN entities, as a practical problem-solving tool to address sensitive and priority development challenges, leading to concrete results. The role of RCs and the entire UN system has become more relevant in maximizing the use of the UPR as an entry point for national policies and action on human rights.

In 2022, the United Nations Development Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Development Coordination Office developed a “Repository of UN good practices on how the Universal Periodic Review process supports sustainable development”, which captures over 60 experiences shared from across the UN system on how the UPR has been able to advance the promotion and protection of human rights and to secure greater compliance, in law and in practice, with international human rights norms or with commitments made by states in UN and regional human rights mechanisms, in all regions of the world.

Following the adoption of Human Rights Council Resolution 54/28, in 2023, aimed at enhancing technical cooperation and capacity-building in the field of human rights, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights launched the UPR Knowledge Hub (https://knowledgegateway.ohchr.org/upr). This is an online platform that collects voluntary submissions on technical cooperation and capacity-building activities related to the implementation of UPR recommendations and promotes peer learning and support among States and stakeholders. Member states and stakeholders, including UN agencies, are invited to provide examples of implementation of recommendations emanating from the UPR to be published in the UPR hub.

Resources

• Universal Periodic Review
• UPR sessions
• UPR: information and guidelines for relevant stakeholders’ written submissions
• UPR documentation by country
• Maximizing the use of the Universal Periodic Review at country level-Practical Guidance
• UN good practices: How the UPR process supports sustainable development
• Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Newsletter (available at Universal Periodic Review | OHCHR)
• UPR Knowledge Hub
• UPR info’s website (not an official UN source)