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Print this pageUNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW: Information and Advocacy Opportunities

Date:

25/11/2008

Organisation:

Child Rights International Network

Resource type:

UPR report
Related Resources

Summary:

CRIN has carried out a comprehensive research of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to ascertain the extent to which children's rights are addressed in the UN mechanism. This page contains CRIN's main research report, individual country reports, upcoming sessions and deadlines, and more information on the UPR and how NGOs can engage.

Web link www.crin.org/law/mechanisms_index.asp

PDF document http://www.crin.org/docs/Status_of_Children's_Rights_in_the_UPR_2010_22ndnov.pdf


Menu:

- What is the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)?  / UPR-Info's online video tutorials

 


LATEST NEWS

 

Introduction

With the introduction of the UPR to the UN mechanism portfolio, an opportunity to advance children's rights potentially exists.

Indeed, with an increasing number of children's rights focused organisations starting to use the mechanism, the need exists for a focused analysis of the UPR from a children's rights perspective.

To this end, CRIN has undertaken the following areas of work:

  • Individual country reports: CRIN has compiled a special report for each individual State Review, detailing references to children's rights throughout the UPR process: from the pre-review report submissions to the post-review outcome reports. Reports for Sessions 1 - 12 of the UPR can be found below.
  • Analysis of country reports: An extensive analysis into these children's rights reference reports was then carried out, assessing the extent to which children's rights are addressed in the UPR, with a focus on which groups of organisations within the UPR process (NGOs, UN bodies, States) are addressing children's rights the most and the least, and in addition which particular children's rights issues appear most prominently and which seem to be neglected - see below.
  • Assessment of NGO participation: CRIN interviewed a number of children's rights focused organisations to further understand their experiences in engaging with the UPR - see below.
  • Final Report: The findings of both the analysis into the individual country reviews and the NGO responses to the survey have been collated and documented in a report which was published in November 2010. See below.
  • Follow-up: CRIN is monitoring closely the progress made by States in implementing the recommendations - See below.
  • Second Cycle: Now that the 2nd cycle is underway, we are continuing to extract children's rights and monitoring progress made - See below.


End of first cycle

All 192 UN Member States (excluding South Sudan) have now been reviewed under the new mechanism. The second cycle begins in May 2012. CRIN will continue to monitor the UPR and all information concerning deadlines, upcoming reviews, research and analysis can be found on this page.


CRIN's 2010 Report: "The Status of Children's Rights in the UPR"

Read the report: English / Español / Francais

Key findings from the report include:

  • One in five mentions focus on children's rights: Approximately one fifth of all points made across the UPR process are children's rights focused, but is this really satisfactory given children cut across all human rights clusters? Furthermore, the findings highlighted below raise concerns over which issues are being addressed adequately and which ones are not.
  • States are avoiding more controversial issues: States tend to focus on, and accept, mostly recommendations on 'softer' issues, such as education and health, and neglect, or reject recommendations on more controversial issues, such as corporal punishment or juvenile justice.
  • NGOs have an important role to play: NGOs lag behind UN bodies and UN Member States in the extent to which they address children's rights in the UPR. Indeed, with States shown to avoid the more controversial issues, NGOs have an important role to play to address the full spectrum of children's rights issues and ensure neglected issues are brought to the forefront of the agenda.

 

Rejected Recommendations

CRIN has compiled a list of all child rights focused recommendations rejected by States throughout the first cycle of the UPR (except the final session which has yet to take place).

Why are these important?

By seeing which recommendations your country has rejected, you will know which key child rights areas are in need of addressing.

 


NGOs experiences of using the UPR

CRIN has summarised the findings of a series of interviews conducted with a range of children's rights focused organisations, assessing the ways they have approached the various stages of the UPR process.

The document illustrates both successful and unsuccessful strategies adopted in each stage of the UPR process, from submitting reports, to national and international lobbying approaches, to post-review follow-up. This guide is an important source both for organisations who have already submitted reports to the UPR, as well as those looking to engage with the mechanism for the first time.

  • Read the summary document, here.
  • Read the NGO survey template, English


Key findings of the survey include:

  • NGOs are still learning about the UPR: As the UPR differs from existing UN mechanisms in a number of ways, NGOs are, to an extent, still finding their feet.
  • Two different perspectives: A clear distinction exists between those who engage at the Geneva level (primarily international NGOs) and those far from Geneva (national NGOs amongst others). Having a representative based in Geneva enables organisations to combine report submission with lobbying. For obvious reasons, this is often not an option for national NGOs.
  • The UPR as an additional advocacy tool: A number of organisations alluded to the need to treat the UPR as an additional advocacy tool that complements their existing day to day work. The UPR was often seen as an 'enforcer' of existing advocacy work done in relation to the CRC, for instance.
  • Wider benefits of engaging with the UPR: A number of internal and external benefits emerged from the survey, particularly national NGOs reporting how the UPR helps them build alliances with the wider human rights community.

 

NGOs reporting to the UPR

CRIN has compiled a list of all the child rights focused NGOs (and other organisations, including Ombudspersons), who have submitted reports to the UPR. Reports are either submitted individually or as part of a coalition or joint submission with other organisations.

Why is this important?

For NGOs / Individuals engaging with the UPR, the database will highlight which other organisations are already reporting to the UPR so that you can, if needs be, co-ordinate your approach. The database also details the list of coalitions that exist, so your organisation may wish to join a coalition or submit particular information to that reporting body.

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CRIN submissions

CRIN has made the following submissions to the UPR as part of our inhuman sentencing campaign:

Mid-term Progress Reports

Now that the focus of the UPR process moves onto the steps States are taking to implement the recommendations issued to them in their initial reviews, NGOs have an important role to play in monitoring progress.

Progress reports submitted by States

States are encouraged to voluntarily submit update reports on the steps they are taking to implement the recommendations made to them during their reviews. To date, only a limited number of States have submitted reports.

The following States have submitted progress reports. CRIN has studied each mid-term report and extracted references to child rights, compiling separate reports. Both the original report and the child rights extract report can be found below.

- To read the original mid-term reports for the countries above, click here.

N.B CRIN will be uploading more reports as soon as they become available!


Eighty-nine States agree to report

In March, during the Human Rights Council’s general debate on the UPR, 89 States committed to submit a mid-term report during the second cycle of the UPR.

Find out if your government agreed to produce a report, here.



Progress reports submitted by NGOs

Some NGOs have also started to submit reports assessing the progress being made by States to implement the recommendations issued to them during their review.

Here are some examples:

Please do share with us any of your reports. Contact info@crin.org.


CRIN's Children's Rights Reference Reports

CRIN has extracted mentions of children's rights for each State review, including mentions from State reports, UN compilation reports, NGO compilation reports and recommendations made by fellow UN Member States.

CRIN to date has compiled 192 reports (one for each of the countries reviewed in the first cycle). The second cycle is now underway and CRIN will continue to compile reports.


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UPCOMING STATE REVIEWS (SECOND CYCLE)

To access the individual children's rights references reports, click on a country below.


Session 25:

Details to follow


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Session 24:

Details to follow


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Session 23:

Details to follow


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Session 22:

Details to follow


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Session 21: Jan / Feb 2015

Details to follow


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Session 20:  October / November 2014

The reporting deadline for the 20th session will be 1 February (changed from 1 March 2014):

  • Italy     El Salvador    Gambia     Bolivia   Fiji   San Marino  
  • Kazakhstan    Angola    Iran    Madagascar    Iraq   
  • Slovenia    Egypt    Bosnia and Herzegovina

UPR Info is organising pre-session meetings between civil society and Permanent Missions to discuss the
human rights situation of countries to be reviewed at the session. Find out how you can participate here.

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Session 19: April / May 2014

The reporting deadlines for the 19th session of the UPR Working Group will be 1 September 2013 (changed from 4 and 11 November 2013):

  • Norway   Albania   Democratic Republic of Congo    Côte d’Ivoire   Portugal   Bhutan
  • Dominica     Democratic People’s Republic of Korea    Brunei Darussalam    Costa Rica
  • Equatorial Guinea    Ethiopia   Qatar   Nicaragua

UPR Info is organising pre-session meetings between civil society and Permanent Missions to discuss the
human rights situation of countries to be reviewed at the session. Find out how you can participate here.

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18th Session: January / February 2014

The reporting deadlines have now passed.

  • Afghanistan   Chile   New Zealand   Uruguay   Vanuatu
  • Viet Nam   Yemen   Cambodia   Comoros
  • Cyprus   Dominican Republic   Eritrea   Macedonia   Slovakia

UPR Info is organising pre-session meetings between civil society and Permanent Missions to discuss the
human rights situation of countries to be reviewed at the session. Find out how you can participate here.


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17th Session: 21 October - 1 November 2013

The reporting deadlines have now passed.

  • China   Jordan   Mauritius   Mexico   Nigeria
  • Saudi Arabia   Senegal   Belize   Central African Republic
  • Chad   Republic of Congo   Malaysia   Malta   Monaco

UPR Info is organising pre-session meetings between civil society and Permanent Missions to discuss the
human rights situation of countries to be reviewed at the session. Find out how you can participate here.

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16th Session: 22 April - 3 May 2013

  • Turkmenistan     Burkina Faso     Cape Verde
  • Colombia    Uzbekistan    Tuvalu    Germany
  • Djibouti    Canada    Bangladesh    Russian Federation  
  • Azerbaijan   Cameroon    Cuba

- Read summaries of each of the above reviews.

The reports will be adopted at the Human Rights Council's 24th session. Visit our session page.

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COMPLETED STATE REVIEWS (SECOND CYCLE)

The reports below include child rights extracts from both the pre-review reports and the final recommendations.

 


15th Session: 21 January to 1 February 2013

France   Tonga   Romania    Mali

Botswana    Bahamas    Burundi

Luxembourg    Barbados    Montenegro  

United Arab Emirates   Israel   Liechtenstein    Serbia

 

Session 14: 22 October - 5 November 2012

Czech Republic    Argentina    Gabon    Ghana

Peru    Guatemala    Benin    Republic of Korea

Switzerland    Pakistan    Zambia    Japan

Ukraine    Sri Lanka    

Session 13: 21 May - 4 June 2012

Countries to be reviewed:

Bahrain   Ecuador   Tunisia   Morocco 

Indonesia  Finland   United Kingdom   India

Brazil    Philippines   Algeria   Poland 

Netherlands   South Africa

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COMPLETED STATED REVIEWS (FIRST CYCLE)

For countries below who have completed the UPR process, available are the pre-review reports as well as the final report and conclusion / recommendations from the working group meeting. Click on a country to access all of these reports.


Session 12: 3 - 14 October 2011

Countries to be reviewed:

Tajikistan Tanzania Antigua and Barbuda

Swaziland Trinidad and Tobago Thailand Ireland

Togo Syria Venezuela Iceland Zimbabwe Lithuania

Uganda Timor-Leste Moldova Haiti


Session 11: 2 to 13 May 2011

Countries to be reviewed:

Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia Sudan Palau

Papua New Guinea Samoa Singapore Solomon Islands

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname

Belgium Denmark Greece Hungary Latvia


Session 10: 24 January to 4 February 2011

Countries to be reviewed:

Nauru Rwanda Nepal Saint Lucia Oman Austria

Myanmar Australia Georgia St. Kitts and Nevis

Sao Tome and Principe Namibia Niger Mozambique

Estonia Paraguay


Session 9: 1 - 12 November 2010

Countries to be reviewed:

Liberia Libya Malawi Mauritania Lebanon Maldives

Marshal Islands Mongolia Honduras Jamaica Panama

United States of America Andorra Bulgaria Croatia


Session 8 - 3 to 14 May 2011

Countries to be reviewed:

Kyrgyzstan Kiribati Guinea Laos Spain Lesotho

Kenya Armenia Guinea-Bissau Sweden Grenada

Turkey Guyana Kuwait Belarus

*Haiti will now be reviewed during the 12th UPR session.


Session 7 - 8th to 19th February 2010

Countries reviewed:

Qatar Nicaragua Italy El Salvador Gambia Bolivia

Fiji San Marino Kazahkstan Angola Iran Madagascar

Iraq Slovenia Egypt Bosnia & Herzegovina


Session 6 - 30 November to 11h December 2009

Countries reviewed:

Eritrea Cyprus Dominican Republic Cambodia Norway

Albania Democratic Republic of Congo Cote d'Ivoire Portugal

Bhutan Dominica Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Brunei Darussalam Costa Rica Equitorial Guinea Ethiopia


Session 5 - 4th to 15th May 2009

Countries reviewed:

Central African Republic Monaco Belize Chad Congo

Malta New Zealand Afghanistan Chile Vietnam

Uruguay Yemen Vanuatu Macedonia Comoros Slovakia


Session 4 - 2nd to 13th February 2009

Countries reviewed:

Germany Djibouti Canada Bangladesh Russian Federation

Azerbaijan Cameroon Cuba Saudi Arabia Senegal China

Nigeria Mexico Mauritius Jordan Malaysia


Session 3 - 1st to 15th December 2008

Countries reviewed:

Botswana Bahamas Burundi Luxembourg Barbados

Montenegro United Arab Emirates Israel Liechtenstein

Serbia Turkmenistan Burkina Faso Cape Verde

Colombia Uzbekistan Tuvalu


Session 2 - 5th to 19th May 2008

Countries reviewed:

Gabon Ghana Peru Guatemala Benin Republic of Korea

Switzerland Pakistan Zambia Japan Ukraine Sri Lanka

France Tonga Romania Mali


Session 1 - 7th to 18th April 2008

Countries reviewed:

Bahrain Ecuador Tunisia Morocco Indonesia

Finland United Kingdom India Brazil South Africa

Czech Republic Argentina Netherlands Algeria

Philippines Poland

 

Original Reports

To view the original UPR reports for each country, click here and select a country


Further explanation / analysis of the UPR

  • The NGO Group for the CRC has compiled fact sheets on the UPR, including tips on writing reports and drawing up concise recommendations. Read them, here.
  • OHCHR detail on their website how the UPR process works, click here.
  • UPR-info.org have information on the UPR process, including NGO participation. Click here.
  • International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) produce analytical coverage of all reviews, click here.


The UPR in the Human Rights Council Review

The five-year review of the Human Rights Council's work and functioning, and a review of the Council's 'status', were completed in 2011.

Key changes concerning the UPR:

1. The period between reviews has lengthened from 4 to 4.5 years
2. The Working Group reviews have been extended to 3.5 hours.
3. A separate section in the Stakeholder compilation report will be attributed to the national human rights institution of the State under review.

CRIN has covered the review and outcomes. Read the following:

 

Useful Contacts

The Working Group of the NGO Group for the CRC for the Human Rights Council (of which CRIN are a part), comprises a group of children's rights focused organisations collaborating on all areas of the Council's work, including the UPR.

For more information, contact the co-convenors of the NGO WG:

Alan Kikuchi-White, Geneva Representative
SOS-Kinderdorf International
Email: KikuchiA@sos-kd.org

Or Veronica Yates, CRIN
Email: vyates@crin.org

Visit: http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/publications/NGOCRC/subgroup-CHR.asp


Previous UPR report items

Organisation Contact Details:

Child Rights International Network
East Studio
2 Pontypool Place
London
SE1 8QF
Tel: +44 (0)207 401 2257
Email: info@crin.org
Website: www.crin.org

Last updated 06/11/2013 12:04:29

Please note that these reports are hosted by CRIN as a resource for Child Rights campaigners, researchers and other interested parties. Unless otherwise stated, they are not the work of CRIN and their inclusion in our database does not necessarily signify endorsement or agreement with their content by CRIN.

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