Opportunities for Nongovernmental Organization Advocacy in the Universal Periodic Review Process at the UN Human Rights Council

摘要

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process in the UN Human Rights Council offers new high-profile opportunities for nongovernmental organization (NGO) advocacy to improve the observance of human rights. Some of the most significant opportunities lie not in the proceedings in the Human Rights Council in Geneva, but internally in societies around the world. NGOs can engage in a continuous cycle of advocacy built around UPR: advocating for national consultations, special procedure visits, and ratification of human rights treaties; submitting information to treaty monitoring bodies and in the UPR process itself; advocating for the acceptance of recommendations made in UPR and then for implementation of those recommendations. NGO submissions for use in the UPR process are published on the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) UPR website page for the state involved, and become part of a central reference for anyone looking at the human rights record of that government. OHCHR guidelines should be followed. NGOs should lobby states to make specific recommendations to the states under review. Governments may be lobbied to accept them both at their Geneva Mission and at home in their national capitals. Recommendations should call on states to take clearly identified measures. NGOs should continue advocacy to urge states to implement the commitments they made. UPR is useful for advocacy on the full range of human rights issues. UPR provides a new opportunity to address recommendations to violator states and focus international pressure to correct abuses and unjust practices. For states truly open to improvement, UPR offers an opportunity to get the attention of high-level officials and policy-makers for human rights problems.