02/06/2011

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calls on the Human Rights Council to establish a follow-up process to UPR recommendations

On Monday 30 May, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navi Pillay, called on the Human Rights Council (HRC) to set up a "proper and efficient" follow-up mechanism in her opening statement at the 17th HRC session. She stated that the international community, including the HRC and OHCHR, should establish a follow-up process to tackle the numerous recommendations coming from the UPR.

This proposal from Ms. Pillay comes as the UPR will begin in June 2012 its second cycle. States will appear before their peers to report on the implementation of the recommendations received at the previous review. However, no mechanism exists to impartially assess which recommendations were actually implemented or not. UPR Info, together with 36 NGOs, had called on States in a Joint contribution to the 2011 HRC Review in October 2010 to develop "mechanisms and modalities for the assessment of the implementation of recommendations". However, despite a lengthy negotiation process, the Outcome of the HRC Review adopted in March 2011 failed to contain such process.

Ms. Pillay also called on States to make questions and recommendations that are reflecting accurately the human rights situation in the country under review.
 

Ms. Pillay's statement is available here