[UPR Trax] :No7: Reaching half of UN member States!

30/11/2009

The UPR Working Group is back. In two weeks, this new mechanism which only started over a year and a half ago, will have undertaken the human rights review of half of the United Nations member States! Before that, sixteen States will be reviewed in the following order: Eritrea, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Cambodia, Norway, Albania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Portugal, Bhutan, Dominica, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Brunei Darussalam, Costa Rica, Equatorial Guinea and Ethiopia.

During the session, UPR Info will hold a side event called “Analysis of UPR Recommendations: Informing the 2011 HRC Review” where Professor Edward McMahon from the University of Vermont will present his analysis of the 5,000 recommendations ever made at the UPR. The event will be this Thursday 3 December, 12.30-14.30, Room 24, Palais des Nations.
 

At UPR Info, we have strived to develop tools to make the UPR easier to access. We now have Facebook and Twitter accounts to provide you with more news about the process, the reviews and our activities.

Our documents “Responses to Recommendations” are now available in Spanish for Spanish speaking countries (Argentina, Belize, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay). The equivalent in French will follow shortly.

We have updated and improved our “Issues Analysis”. They now only look into advance questions and recommendations and contain a “cover sheet” summarizing the chart and explaining the several sub issues as well as listing the top regional groups and States that made and received written questions and recommendations on the issue. We have also created a tool bar on the top right of the website to access issues easier and faster.

Finally, as announced last June, UPR Info is now engaged in the follow-up. We have started collecting information from NGOs about state of implementation of UPR recommendations in States reviewed in 2008 and are welcoming any information in this regard.

News on the UPR process

  • UPR 8th session moved forward one week - 23 November 2009
  • Programmes of work for UPR sessions 7, 8 and 9 - 20 November 2009

News on UPR-info.org

  • UPR Info seeks out information on the follow-up - 27 November 2009

UPR Info intends to gather information from both the civil society and States about the implementation of the recommendations.

  • UPR Info organises a side event on UPR recommendations - 27 November 2009

UPR Info will hold on Thursday a side event called “Analysis of UPR Recommendations: Informing the 2011 HRC Review”.

  • New format for Issues Analysis - 27 November 2009

We have changed our Issues Analysis in order to make them more accurate and useful.

  • Responses to UPR recommendations now in Spanish - 9 November 2009

We have now translated Responses to UPR recommendations in Spanish for Spanish speaking countries.

  • UPR Info now available on Twitter and Facebook - 28 October 2009