UPR Process

The Universal Periodic Review is a three-stage process: The first stage involves the State being reviewed in a three-hour Working Group. The outcome of this Working Group (WG) is a document containing recommendations by States and voluntary commitments by the State under Review (SuR). The second phase is the adoption of this document within the two weeks of the WG session but not earlier than 48 hours after the State was reviewed. Finally the third phase is the adoption of that document during a plenary session of the HRC.

The Institutional-building text of the Human Rights Council, as set out in resolution A/HRC/RES/5/1 of 18 June 2007, indicates that the review shall assess to what extent States respect their human rights obligations contained in:
 The Charter of the United Nations
 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
 Human Rights instruments to which the State is party (human rights treaties ratified by the State concerned)
 Voluntary pledges and commitments made by the State (including those undertaken when presenting the candidature for election to the Human Rights Council)
 Applicable international humanitarian law

Three main documents are used to conduct the review of the State:
 Information prepared by the State concerned: this can take the form of a national report (prepared according to the “General Guidelines for the Preparation of Information under the Universal Periodic Review” adopted without a vote on 27 September 2007 by the Human Rights Council - A/HRC/DEC/6/102) or any other information considered relevant by the State concerned. The presentation does not have to exceed twenty pages.
 A compilation of no more than ten pages prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights containing: information included in reports of treaty bodies, special procedures, observations and comments by the State concerned and other UN documents.
 Other “credible and reliable information” provided by other relevant stakeholders (i.e. including Non-governmental Organisations), which are summarized by the Office of the High Commissioner in a document not exceeding ten pages.

The documents prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner shall also follow the General Guidelines for the Preparation of Information under the UPR.

 . Composition
The Working Group (WG) is composed of all UN member-States of the HRC (each country can decide about the composition of its delegation) and chaired by the President of the Council.
Other relevant stakeholders, such as NGOs, can attend the Working Group but not take the floor.
Furthermore, the WG is assisted by a troika (see below for an explanation of the troika) which is responsible for conducting the review.

 . Proceeding
The session of the WG is structured as follows: the first phase is the presentation by the State under Review (SuR) of its national report as well as the answers to the written questions and issues it had received in advance. Those questions/issues have to be submitted in advance by States to the Troika. The Troika then relays the list of questions to the Secretariat which transmits them to the SuR no later than ten working days prior to the review.
Those questions/issues should also be circulated to States before the WG session, unless the SuR or the State that raised them are opposed.
The following phase is the interactive dialogue, during which States take the floor to ask more questions and to make recommendations about the documentation provided on the SuR’s human rights practices as well as on the human rights situation in the country. During this phase, member-States of the HRC have a speaking time of three minutes and observer States of two minutes.
Finally, the SuR presents its concluding remarks.
The SuR’s overall speaking time throughout the session of the WG is of 60 minutes.

The SuR can respond to recommendations made by other States during the session of the WG, as well as any time between the session of the WG and the plenary of the Human Rights Council included.

Pursuant to the Institutional-building text, the troika consists of three Rapporteurs assisting the Working Group (WG).

 Composition of the Troika


The troika members are selected by the drawing of lots among members of the HRC and from different regional groups. They can be delegation members or experts nominated by the selected State. Every State under review will have a different troika. The State under Review (SuR) can request that one of the three members be from its Regional Group and/or that one of the troika members be substituted, although only on one occasion. Finally, a troika member may ask to be excluded from participation in a specific review process.
On February 28th 2008, the HRC drew the lots of the troikas for the April and May 2008 sessions. Click here for the 1st session troikas and here for the 2nd session troikas.

 Role of the Troika

According to the last President’s statement of 9 April 2008 and with practice, the role of the Troika has taken shape.

. Before the review
The Troika receives the written questions and/or issues raised by States and relays them to the Secretariat which has ten working days to transmit them to the State under Review. In so doing, the Troika members cluster the questions and/or issues following the structure and content of the report prepared by the State under Review.

. During the interactive dialogue
Troika members do not have a specific role during the interactive dialogue. However, they can take the floor as representatives of their State and can specify their belonging to the Troika.

. Preparing the report of the Working Group
The Troika prepares the report of the Working Group, which contains a full account of the proceedings, with the involvement of the State under Review and with the assistance of the Secretariat. Finally, one of the Troika members is in charge of introducing the report before its adoption in the Working Group.

The three-hour Working Group (WG) results in a report prepared by the troika with the involvement of the State under Review (SuR) and the assistance of the Secretariat.
The report contains the summary of the interactive dialogue, responses by the SuR, recommendations by States and voluntary commitments by the SuR.
The SuR can accept or refuse recommendations. Both accepted and refused recommendations are included in the report.

Adoption of the report during the Working Group
During the WG session and not earlier than 48 hours after the country was reviewed, half an hour is allocated to adopt the report. After the report has been adopted, modifications can be brought to the report by States within the following two weeks.

Adoption of the report during the Human Rights Council
Once the report has been adopted during the WG session, it has to be adopted at a plenary session of the Human Rights Council by a resolution or decision. One hour of the plenary is allocated to the adoption divided as such:
. 20 minutes to the SuR to reply to questions and issues that were not sufficiently addressed during the Working Group and respond to recommendations that were raised by States during the interactive dialogue.
. 20 minutes to member and observer States to take the floor and express their opinion on the outcome of the review.
. 20 minutes to NGOs and other stakeholders to make general comments.

The Council has decided on a template for the adoption of the Working Groups reports during the plenary: click here to view the example of Bahrain.

The Institutional-building text of 18 June 2007 established that all member States of the Council will be reviewed during their term of membership (and those whose membership expires in 2007 and 2008 will be reviewed first). Observer States are also reviewed as the mechanism is universal.

During the selection phase of the first UPR cycle, States were split per regional group. Subsequently, the list of each group has been organized so that States selected first are those whose terms of membership has ended in June 2007, second those whose terms of membership will end in June 2008 and third those who volunteered for the UPR. Then, the list of countries has been re-organized in alphabetical order starting with the country drawn by lot by the President.

Yes. They can, inter alia, submit information which will be used in the review and take the floor prior to the adoption of the outcome during a HRC session.

Click here to see in details how NGOs can take part in the UPR process.

The State has the duty to implement the recommendations contained in the final outcome. The following review will control if the State has done so. If not, the Council shall address cases of persistent non-cooperation with the mechanism.

The Universal Periodic Review process is held in Palais des Nations, Geneva, headquarters of the UN in Europe.