Countries

Countries form a key element of the UN system: they fund the organisation, decide the agenda, make decisions, vote resolutions, etc. The United Nations have 192 members. As a universal mechanism, the UPR will examine all of them every four year, at the pace of 48 countries per year.

The Universal Periodic Review is a State-driven exercise. States have an important role to play at different stage of the process.

NB: To reach the page dedicated to each State, use the country search located on the right hand side

National Report

The State under Review (or SuR) must present a report on its human rights situation to be used as a basis for the review. As resolution A/HRC/RES/5/1 puts it:

“Information prepared by the State concerned, which can take the form of a national report, on the basis of general guidelines to be adopted by the Council at its sixth session (first session of the second cycle), and any other information considered relevant by the State concerned, which could be presented either orally or in writing, provided that the written presentation summarizing the information will not exceed twenty pages, to guarantee equal treatment to all States and not to overburden the mechanism.”

The “general guidelines” referred to were adopted in September 2007 at the 6th session of the HRC and are contained in resolution A/HRC/RES/6/102.

National Consultations

In order to write the report, the State is “encouraged” to hold a “broad consultation process at the national level with all relevant stakeholders” (Resolution A/HRC/RES/5/1). It belongs to the State to choose the modalities of the consultation.

Troika

The Troika has the task of relaying the written questions submitted by other States prior to the review to the Secretariat which then has ten days to transmit them to the State under Review. It consist of three members of the Council from different regional groups selected upon a complex system (see the UPR process for more). They can be delegation members or experts nominated by the selected State. According to a President of the Council’s paper (A/HRC/OM/L.1) dated 28 February 2008, their role is only to relay questions and issues without interfering in the debate.
The troika is also in charge of preparing the report on review, containing the summary of the proceedings, conclusions, recommendations by States and voluntary commitments by the State concerned.

Implementation

After the end of the UPR process, a report is issued and adopted by the HRC containing:
 An assessment of the human rights situation
 Best practices to follow
 Provisions concerning technical assistance and capacity-building and
 Voluntary commitments and pledges by the country itself.

State has to “implement” this final outcome/report. If it does not do so, the Council “will address […] cases of persistent non-cooperation with the mechanism” (Resolution A/HRC/RES/5/1)