However, last May, Israel suspended “its cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Human Rights Council and its subsequent mechanisms” and as a consequence, will not participate in its own UPR scheduled on 29 January 2013. Such decision is a threat to the UPR process as a whole and its universality and could open the door to non-participation by other countries.
Therefore UPR Info calls on the Human Rights Council (the Council) to take a decision regarding the review of Israel before 29 January 2013, and to provide the conditions of the review. If the Council does not manage to reach a decision, the review should take place without the presence of Israel, in order to maintain an equal treatment of all States.
UPR Info also calls on the Council to adopt a resolution in March 2013 defining the meaning of “persistent non-cooperation”, aiming to avoid any loophole in UPR modalities.
Finally, UPR Info calls on the State of Israel to fully cooperate and to resume without delay its relationship with the Council.
Read our full statement here.
On 14 January, the Council will proceed to the drawing of lots to select the troikas of countries to be reviewed at the 15th Working Group session of the UPR from 21 January to 1 February.
At UPR Info, we held the third round of our pre-sessions from 28 to 30 November. 41 organisations, including two national institutions and 23 national NGOs, made presentations to 43 Permanent Missions about the human rights situation in Botswana, Burundi, France, Israel, Luxembourg, Mali, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and the United Arab Emirates.
Finally, our follow-up programme has published new Mid-term Implementation Assessments on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Iran and Kazakhstan.
Happy Human Rights Day to all.