[UPR Trax] :No2: UPR 5th session starts today

04/05/2009

Today started the Fifth session of the UPR Working Group. Sixteen States will be reviewed over the next two weeks: Central African Republic, Monaco, Belize, Chad, Congo, Malta, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Chile, Viet Nam, Uruguay, Yemen, Vanuatu, Macedonia, Comoros and Slovakia.

You can now watch the reviews live on UPR-info.org. During those two weeks, do not hesitate to consult our website for up-to-date information, news and documents.

Over the month of April, several events were noteworthy.

The Bureau of the HRC, following the President, decided not to change the practices regarding the list of speakers. The only change is that now, according to a document circulated by the Secretariat, the inscription on the list will need to be made one day prior to the day of the review. This applies for both the morning and afternoon reviews.

With regards to past sessions, the Report of the 10th session of the HRC summarising the adoption of the Reports of the Working Group of the third session was released last week. Further, the dates for Item 6 (UPR) on the agenda at the 11th session of the HRC have now been officially set; this will take place from 9-12 June, during the second week of the session.

Finally, in respect of future sessions, the deadlines for NGO submissions were released for sessions 7, 8 and 9, respectively September 2009, November 2009 and April 2010.

In the meantime, at UPR-info, we have finalised our Activities’ Report for 2008, which is now available on our website. We also recently produced two important analyses.

The first on State participation at the third session (session 4 will follow soon) and also on the three first UPR sessions combined. This analysis revealed that a growing number of States have been participating over the first year with some differences between regional group participation.

The second analysis is on recommendations made during the third session (session 4 will also follow soon). These have been presented in alphabetical order of the commending states, thus allowing ease of reference when looking at all the recommendations made by a member of the Working Group without having to search all sixteen reports. 1330 recommendations were made during session 3 which largely outnumbers the 844 recommendations of session 2 and the 408 of session 1.

And last but not least, you can now subscribe to our newsletter by visiting UPR-info.org.

Quote of the month

"Despite the various proposals put forward, the general opinion is not to change the rules and practices midway"

Martin Uhomoibhi, Human Rights Council President, about the procedure to enrol on the list of speakers.

On the UPR process

  • New timetable for the opening of the list of speakers for session 5 - 30 April 2009
    The Secretariat of the Human Rights Council circulated yesterday, Wednesday 29th, a new timetable for the opening of the list of speakers for session 5.
  • Workshops in May and June by the OHCHR for futur States under Review - 29 April 2009
    The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights gives pre-session briefing and organizes training activities to future States under Review and other interested States.
     
  • HRC 10th session Report available! - 29 April 2009
    The Report of the 10th session of the Human Rights Council (document A/HRC/10/29) is now available.
     
  • HRC Bureau discusses UPR budgetary issues and the list of speakers - 29 April 2009
    The UPR, and the HRC as a whole, has been suffering from budgetary restrictions over the last months, threatening the 5th and 6th UPR Working Group. Read more here...
     
  • Information meeting on Monday the 27th for States under Review at the fifth UPR session - 29 April 2009
    The Secretariat of the Human Rights Council is organising an information meeting for States under Review at the fifth session of the Universal Periodic Review in May.
     
  • Reports of session 4 of the Working Group scheduled to be adopted from 9 to 12 June! - 16 April 2009
    The Reports of the 4th session of the Working Group on the UPR will be adopted during the 11th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) from 9 to 12 June.
     
  • New deadlines for NGO submissions for session 7, 8 and 9! - 8 April 2009
    The Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) has released new deadlines for the submissions of information by stakeholders for session 7, 8 and 9.
     
  • Timetable for session 6 available! - 8 April 2009
    Session 6 of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review will be held from 30 November to 11 December 2009.
     
  • Note Verbale from the HRC Secretariat on the 5th session of the UPR - 6 April 2009
    The Secretariat of the Human Rights Council circulated today to delegations a Note Verbale regarding the fifth session of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review.

On UPR-info.org

  • Overview on State participation during the three first sessions of the UPR - 30 April 2009
    We have produced an overview on State participation during the three first sessions of the UPR Working Group.
     
  • New analysis on State participation during Session 3 - 30 April 2009
    We have produced a new analysis on State participation during the third session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group.
     
  • HRC Bureau meeting summaries now available on UPR-info.org! - 28 April 2009
    All Human Rights Council (HRC) Bureau meeting summaries mentioning the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) are now available on UPR-info.org.
     
  • Issues Analysis: update of session 3 on Death Penalty, Enforced Disappearances, Indigenous Peoples and Torture -  28 April 2009
    We have completed our Issues Analysis on Death Penalty, Enforced Disappearances, Indigenous Peoples and Torture with the third session of the UPR Working Group held from 1-15 December 2008.
     
  • All the recommendations of session 3 in one document! -  28 April 2009
    Find now all the recommendations made during session 3 (1-15 December 2008) of the UPR sorted by States that made them available in one document.
     
  • New issues analysis on summary executions! - 20 April 2009
    We have developed a new analysis on extrajudiciary, summary and arbitrary executions at the UPR.
     
  • Final reports of session 4 of the Working Group available on UPR-info.org! - 8 April 2009

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