31st session of the Universal Periodic Review
The thirty-first session of the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group will be held in Geneva from 5 to 16 November during which the next group of 14 States are scheduled to have their human rights records examined under this mechanism.
The group of States to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during this session are (in order of scheduled review): Saudi Arabia, Senegal, China, Nigeria, Mexico, Mauritius, Jordan, Malaysia, Central African Republic, Monaco, Belize, Chad, Congo, Malta.
Representatives of the 14 countries are scheduled to come before the Working Group to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations as well as to assess and identify the challenges faced in the implementation of the UPR recommendations posed during their previous reviews.
Each examination, conducted by the UPR Working Group, takes 3½ hours. The State under Review (SuR) is given a total of 70 minutes to address the Working Group. This time is usually used to make introductory remarks, summarising their National Report, and to offer closing remarks once the Chair of the Working Groups concludes the interactive dialogue. The SuR can also take the floor during the interactive dialogue to both respond to questions, submitted in advance or during the review, and provide States with additional information. The remaining 140 minutes are allocated to the Interactive Dialogue of the Working Group Session, a dynamic space for peer-to-peer debate. States participating in the review, known as Recommending States (RS), have the opportunity to ask questions, note comments and, crucially, make recommendations to the SuR. The review for each State is facilitated by groups of three Council members from different regional groups, or troikas, who act as rapporteurs. The troikas for the 27th session can be found here.
The timetable of State reviews and adoption and distribution of reports can be found below, as well as here.
The final outcome of the thirty-first session will be adopted by the plenary of the Human Rights Council at its fortieth regular session taking place in Geneva from 03 to 29 march 2019.
Timetable for the Universal Periodic Review Working Group 31st Session:
(Contains links to UPR Info’s Country page)