At the turn of the Millennium, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan used his position and credentials to formulate a radical criticism of the UN system. He also took advantage of the Secretariat's capacity for initiative in proposing reforms. Thus is born the Human Rights Council, in replacement of the Commission on Human Rights, which was created in 1946. Thus is born, as well, the major program of this new Council: the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), in place since January 2008.
According to the adopted timetable, the 192 member states of the United Nations should normally be submitted to this review by the end of 2011. This review consists of evaluating the compliance of national policies with international human rights law; each state is submitted to the review according to the same methodology, the same criteria and the same and the same objectives.
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Welcome on the UPR Watch web-based platform. We invite you ask your questions and share your analyses and comments. This platform is also yours and that of everyone around the world who shares the objectives of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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What will the States do about the recommendations expressed to them by the Human Rights Council? These recommendations, according to the Council itself, “should be implemented primarily by the State concerned”. We at UPR Watch think this “implementation” is binding in nature since the following review cycle (2012-2016), if it is to take place, will focus precisely on the implementation of these recommendations.
Our Website offers a follow-up, country by country, of the implementation – or lack thereof – of the recommendations received and accepted by the states under review.
Without this implementation, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and the Human Rights Council would lose all credibility and all legitimacy. Without this implementation, the effective promotion and protection of the rights of “all members of the human family” would simply be negated. Indeed, the Council’s recommendations express a consensus between the international community and a given country in terms of rights protection within that State. Consequently, failure to act constitutes an “informed” refusal to guarantee fundamental rights protection.
