Guidelines for UPR

IWRAW Asia Pacific is continuing our updates to you on NGO engagement with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), in particular for NGOs whose countries will be reviewed at the First UPR in April 2008.

[The reporting countries are: Bahrain, Ecuador, Tunisia, Morocco, Indonesia, Finland, United Kingdom, India, Brazil, Philippines, Algeria, Poland, Netherlands, South Africa, Czech Republic and Argentina.]

As you may already know, the UPR mechanism is a new innovation in the UN human rights system, under which each UN member state will be reviewed periodically - at this stage every 4 years - on its human rights record.

48 countries will be reviewed each year, starting in 2008. The review will be carried out by a working group composed of members of the HRC that will meet three times per year for two weeks and will be facilitated by groups of three States members of the HRC which will act as Rapporteurs (or “troikas”) appointed by the HRC.

There will be three types of documents on which basis the UPR will be conducted:
1. State’s parties information in the form of a national report - in a document of not more than 20 pages.
2. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) compilation of information contained in the reports of treaty bodies, special procedures, and other relevant UN documents, not exceeding 10 pages.
3. A summary prepared by OHCHR of "additional credible and reliable information" received from "other relevant stakeholders" (which would include National Human Rights Institutions as well as NGOs and civil society organizations), not exceeding 10 pages. The deadline for submission of reports for the 1st UPR session is 20 November 2007. NGOs can provide written submissions for which we provide some guidelines below.

(1) WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS FOR THE UPR

Guidelines for the submission of NGO information (released by the OHCHR) can be found here:

A factsheet for the procedures of the HRC can be found here

In summary,

Format:

(a) Ensure your submission is within 5 pages. A more detailed and factual report may be attached for reference.

(b) Be sure to highlight the most critical issues of concern and express a sense of priority. Facts and details to support the priority issues, as well as possible recommendations to be made to the country under review, may be annexed for reference to the submission;

(c) Language of submission – It is recommended that you submit the information in English, French or Spanish. The Secretariat may not have the capacity to read and summarize contributions in other languages;

(d) The information covered should be a maximum of four year-time period.

Content:

You may wish to provide information on:

(a) The methodology and the broad consultation process followed nationally for the preparation of information provided to the UPR by the country under review;

(b) The current normative and institutional framework of the country under review for the promotion and protection of human rights: constitution, legislation, policy measures such as national action plans, national jurisprudence, human rights infrastructure including national human rights institutions;

(c) The implementation and efficiency of the normative and institutional framework for the promotion and protection of human rights described above in (b). This includes information on the implementation of the country’s human rights obligations and commitments at the national and the international levels (for example information on the implementation of commitments made by the country under review at international conferences and other UN fora; of constitutional and legal reforms aimed at protecting human rights, of national action plans, of mechanisms and remedies aimed at improving human rights); on the activities of NHRIs; on human rights education and public awareness;

(d) Cooperation of the country under review with human rights mechanisms, and with NHRIs, NGOs, rights holders, human rights defenders, and other relevant national human rights stakeholders, both at the national, regional and international levels;

(e) Achievements made by the country under review, best practices which have emerged, and challenges and constraints faced by the country under review;

(f) Key national priorities as identified by NGOs, initiatives and commitments that the State concerned should undertake, in the view of NGOs, to overcome these challenges and constraints and improve human rights situations on the ground. This includes, for example, national strategies, areas where further progress is required, steps regarding implementation and follow-up to recommendations made by human rights mechanisms, commitments for future cooperation with OHCHR and human rights mechanisms and agencies, etc.;

(f) Expectations in terms of capacity building and technical assistance provided and /or recommended by NGOs through bilateral, regional and international cooperation.

NOTE: If you have recently submitted a shadow report for CEDAW or any other treaty bodies, we recommend that you make an executive summary your report (in 5 pages) and attach your report.

Deadline:

Submissions should be sent by 20 November 2007 to UPRsubmissions@ohchr.org.

In the title of your email – indicate that this is an NGO submission and indicate the related country (ies) (i.e. Submission by ‘name of NGO’ related to ‘name of country’ for session scheduled ‘indicate month and year’).

(2) NGO PARTICIPATION IN THE UPR REVIEW IN GENEVA

The UPR review will be conducted in one working group composed of the 47 member States of the HRC.

The UPR mechanism allows for active participation and engagement from NGOs:

(a) NGOs may attend the UPR review in the working group;

(b) NGOs will have the opportunity to make general comments before the adoption of the final outcome by the plenary of the Human Rights Council.

For more information about the workings of the Human Rights Council, see the attached document “Fact sheet on the Work And Structure of the Human Rights Council”.

An NGO Information Note was sent previously (also available at http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/upr/noteNGO_041007.htm).

Please refer to the website of the Human Rights Council for updates as well: http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/

Best regards,
Wei San & Audrey
IWRAW Asia Pacific

Also see:

(1) Suggested guidelines on UPR for NGOs
(2) Fact sheet on the Work And Structure of the Human Rights Council

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This page was last updated on November 05, 2007

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