UPR Trax [No. 77]

UPR Info

Newsletter September 2017

In-country

Pre-sessions:

preparing for the UPR

UPR Info in a nutshell Similarly to our work in September, thisissue will focus on In-country Pre-sessions. This month saw many fruitful In-countryPre-sessions. Firstly in preparation forGhana's review on 7 November 2017,UPR Info facilitated, on 6-7 September,the Ghana In-country Pre-session andDiplomatic Dialogue held in Accra(Ghana). From 11-15 September, in Colombo (SriLanka) and New Dehli (India), two In-country Pre-sessions organised, by theCivil Society Collective in Sri Lanka andUPR Info, ahead of Sri Lanka’s review on15 November 2017. And in Botswana, an In-country Pre-session and Diplomatic Dialogue inGaborone was held from 26-27September, organised by UPR Info andthe Botswana Centre for Human Rights. Aside from this work, UPR Info spokeat the Human Rights Council (HRC)Annual Discussion on the Integration of aGender Perspective, monitored theadoption of all UPR27 reports, anddelivered a statement at the 36th Sessionof the HRC to further stress the need forsynergies between the UPR and theSDGs.

Quote of the month "The Sri Lanka's UPR Pre-session wastruly a very valuable briefing and verytimely in our preparatory work ahead ofthe UPR in November."

Ebba Littorin,

Second Secretary, Political Affairs Embassy of Sweden

Video of the month

What is the UPR?

Key Dates and Latest Documents

In focus:

In-country

Pre-sessions

What?

The Pre-sessions were introduced in2012, at the beginning of the second cycleof the UPR. UPR Info's Pre-sessionsoffered civil society an internationalplatform to directly advocate to Statedelegations ahead of the UPR session;and aided diplomatic delegations inascertaining information on countries’human rights landscapes. The ultimate aim of the Pre-sessions is toensure that the recommendations made atthe UPR: 1) reflect the concerns of the rights-holders; and 2) are specific and action-orientated.

Why?

The aim of the In-country Pre-Sessions, held at in, or near to, the Stateunder Review, is to provide a nationalplatform for local civil society to briefthe resident diplomatic community andthe media on pressing human rightsissues. These national human rightsconferences reinforce the messages thatthe civil society organisations (CSOs) willmake in Geneva. This gives further weightto the human rights issues that can beshared by the diplomats in attendance withboth their State capitals and counterpartsin their Geneva-based PermanentMissions to the United Nations.

Preparing for the UPR of Ghana: listeningto CSO voices

Ghana is set to be reviewed at the Human Rights

Council in Geneva on 7th November 2017. In

preparation for this, on 6-7 September, 2017,

UPR Info facilitated the Ghana In-country Pre-

session and Diplomatic Dialogue that was held in

Accra, Ghana. The meeting was co-organised by

the POS Foundation, which currently serves as

the Secretariat of the Ghana Human Rights

NGOs Forum, in collaboration with KASA

initiative Ghana, UPR Info Africa Office, the

Office of the United Nations in Ghana, and The

Danish International Development Agency

(DANIDA). The meeting, with the theme:

“Diplomacy Meets Human Rights: Ghana’s

Human Rights Record (UPR: A Process, Not an

Event)”, was attended by over 50 CSO

representatives and over 33 members of the

Diplomatic Corp.

Sri Lankan civil society in diplomatic talksahead of review

On 11-15 September 2017, the Civil Society

Collective in Sri Lanka and UPR Info, organised a

Pre-session week ahead of Sri Lanka’s review in

November. With the overall objective to

contribute to an increased number of action-

oriented, specific and relevant recommendations,

the week encompassed two orientation days and

two In-country Pre-sessions; in Colombo, Sri

Lanka, and New Delhi, India.

State delegates also lauded the UPR Advocacy

Factsheets that the Civil Society Collective had

developed and then presented at this event, with

the support of UPR Info, and noted their

usefulness in assisting them to phrase relevant

UPR recommendations to Sri Lanka.

Bringing CSOs in Botswana into the UPR process

Botswana is set to be reviewed for the third time in January 2018, and in preparation Botswana CSOs

submitted their reports to the UN Human Rights Council on 29 June, 2017. They are now committed to

undertake coordinated and sustained advocacy towards various Recommending States.

UPR Info, in collaboration with DITSHWANELO – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights - organised an

In-country Pre-session and Diplomatic Dialogue in Gaborone on 26-27 September 2017. It is envisaged

that with this event, the quality and number of recommendations made to the State of Botswana will

improve and increase respectively; and possibly the number of recommending States will go up thereby

enhancing the human rights situation in the country. The meeting will also provide an opportunity CSOs to

lobby the diplomats on the issues that are of importance to them and act as a platform to prepare NGOs

for the Geneva Pre-sessions.

UPR Activities

Annual Discussion on the Integration of aGender Perspective

An annual discussion on the Integration of aGender Perspective was held on 15th September2017 during which Mr. Roland Chauville(outgoing Executive Director of UPR Info) gaveinsights on challenges faced in addressing theissue of gender equality, as well as highlightingthe role of the UPR mechanism and the stronglinkages between human rights mechanisms andAgenda 2030.

Greater links between the UPR and SDGsneeded in the 3rd cycle

The 36th session of the Human Rights Council(HRC) saw the adoptions of the Final WorkingGroup Reports of the first 14 States reviewed inthe third cycle of the UPR. Following theadoptions Item 6: General Debate took place,giving States the chance to comment on the UPRmechanism and its modalities. This debate isalso an opportunity for States to present anupdate on implementation since their review,ideally one year after and at mid-term, whichGeorgia, Iran, and Malawi did.

Indian civil society organise nationwide screenings of UPR adoption

On 21 September 2017, the Working Group On Human Rights in India and the UN (WGHR) facilitated the

largest ever live webcast of the adoption of India’s third-cycle UPR. At least 245 screenings took place in

nearly all states of India, including Chennai, Madurai, Puducherry, Bangalore, Trivandrum to Sonepat,

Almora, Patiala, Sri Nagar, New Delhi, and many others. Nearly eleven thousand people gathered

together to watch the Indian Government’s response to its international human rights evaluation.

Key dates

- Seminar on the Role of Recommending State at the

UPR: 5 October 2015, 10:00-12:00, in Room XXIV, Palais

des Nations

- Pre-sessions UPR28: 10-13 October 2017, Timetable is

available here

- 28th Session of the UPR Working Group 6-17 November

2017

Please consult our UPR Info Calendar for more key dates.

Latest documents

UPR Session 26 is

available in our Database

Pre-sessions Calendar

for UPR Session 28

What is the UPR? (Video)

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