Human rights and justice in Europe & CIS

Universal Periodic Review

A nationally owned human rights agenda  
 

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council which started in April 2008. The human rights practices of all United Nations member states are reviewed by other countries (who also go through the same process) once every four years. It is the only global human rights mechanism.

In Europe and the CIS, all countries have already taken part in the first cycle of the review between 2008 and 2011.The follow-up is the most critical phase of the process because it focuses on the “improvement of the human rights situation on the ground."

When the UPR mechanism was established, it did not provide detailed guidelines to key stakeholders (national government agencies, national human rights institutions, civil society organizations and others) on how to implement recommendations at national, sub-national, and local levels.

This resulted in different national processes, levels of commitment, modalities, mechanisms, and pace of responding to recommendations. Due to a lack of understanding on the ground by key stakeholders of the Review process and its linkages with the nationally owned development agenda, its full potential has not yet been realized. In many cases, UPR recommendations have not been integrated into the national planning process.

Universal Periodic Review: An opportunity

Recommendations that come out of the Universal Periodic Review provide UNDP and the entire United Nations system with an opportunity to:

• Have a dialogue with governments
• Advocate for integrating human rights into development, and
• Offer a framework to develop sectoral and joint programming to support the development and strengthening of national human rights systems.

This includes administration of justice, national human rights institutions, legislative bodies, and civil society organizations.

Due to UNDP’s diverse developmental mandate, strong country level programming and policy presence, and partnerships with national and local level institutions, UNDP can support countries to follow up on recommendations that come out of the UPR process.

Why UNDP? – What we offer

For UNDP and United Nations country teams, the Universal Period Review provides a unique contribution to national development. Most UNDP offices in the region are already engaged with national partners during preparation of country submissions as well as follow-up with recommendations.

• UNDP’s existing projects on governance, gender equality, human development and poverty reduction, HIV and AIDS, environment and energy, and capacity development have the potential to integrate UPR recommendations into nationally owned development agendas and sectoral work plans.
• UNDP’s global and regional networks and experts help to gather, analyze and share the latest knowledge on human rights and development.
• UNDP supports national human rights institutions with reporting and implementation of the agreed upon UPR recommendations. This includes providing national human rights institutions with specific training and capacity development initiatives in the areas of human rights and the UPR process.
• UNDP can help to engage civil society organizations in the reporting and monitoring of human rights activities, as well as national and sectoral assessments. Without the active participation of civil society organizations in the UPR process, both the reporting and the implementation processes may not meet the needs of different segments of society including disadvantaged groups and vulnerable communities.
• If requested by national partners, UNDP together with other United Nations agencies can support the reporting process as well as the national response. (The second cycle of UPR reporting starts in 2012.)
   

Watch a learning hour on the Universal Periodic Review

Demystifying the Universal Periodic Review