38th session of the Universal Periodic Review
The thirty-eight session of the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group will be held in Geneva from 3 to 14 May during which the next group of 14 States are scheduled to have their human rights records examined under this mechanism.
The group of States to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during this session are (in order of scheduled review): Namibia, Niger, Mozambique, Estonia, Belgium, Paraguay, Denmark, Somalia, Palau, Solomon Islands, Seychelles, Latvia, Singapore, Sierra Leone.
Representatives of the 14 countries are scheduled to come before the Working Group to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations as well as to assess and identify the challenges faced in the implementation of the UPR recommendations posed during their previous reviews.
Each examination, conducted by the UPR Working Group, takes 3½ hours. The State under Review (SuR) is given a total of 70 minutes to address the Working Group. This time is usually used to make introductory remarks, summarising their National Report, and to offer closing remarks once the Chair of the Working Groups concludes the interactive dialogue. The SuR can also take the floor during the interactive dialogue to both respond to questions, submitted in advance or during the review, and provide States with additional information. The remaining 140 minutes are allocated to the Interactive Dialogue of the Working Group Session, a dynamic space for peer-to-peer debate. States participating in the review, known as Recommending States (RS), have the opportunity to ask questions, note comments and, crucially, make recommendations to the SuR. The review for each State is facilitated by groups of three Council members from different regional groups, or troikas, who act as rapporteurs.
The troikas for the 38th session can be found here.
The timetable of State reviews and adoption and distribution of reports can be found below, as well as here.
The final outcome of the thirty-eight session will be adopted by the plenary of the Human Rights Council at its forty-eight regular session taking place in Geneva from 13 September to 01 October 2021.
Timetable for the Universal Periodic Review Working Group 38th Session: (Contains links to UPR Info’s Country page)
Monday, 3 May
09h00 – 12h30 Review of Namibia
14h30 – 18h00 Review of Niger
Tuesday, 4 May
09h00 – 12h30 Review of Mozambique
14h30 – 18h00 Review of Estonia
Wednesday, 5 May
09h00 – 12h30 Review of Belgium and distribution of the report on Namibia
14h30 – 18h00 Review of Paraguay and distribution of the report on the Niger
Thursday, 6 May
09h00 – 12h30 Review of Denmark and distribution of the report on Mozambique
14h30 – 18h00 Review of Somalia and distribution of the report on Estonia
Friday, 7 May
09h00 – 12h30 Review of Palau
15h00 – 17h30 Distribution of the reports on Belgium and Paraguay and adoption of the reports on Namibia, Niger, Mozambique, Estonia, Belgium and Paraguay
Monday, 10 May
09h00 – 12h30 Review of Solomon Islands and distribution of the report on Denmark
14h30 – 18h00 Review of Seychelles and distribution of the report on Somalia
Tuesday, 11 May
09h00 – 12h30 Review of Latvia and distribution of the report on Palau
16h30 – 18h00 Adoption of the reports on Denmark, Somalia and Palau
Wednesday, 12 May
09h00-12h30 Review of Singapore and distribution of the report on Solomon Islands
14h30 – 18h00 Review of Sierra Leone and distribution of the report on Seychelles
Thursday, 13 May
12h30 Distribution of the report on Latvia
Friday, 14 May
12h30 Distribution of the report on Singapore and Sierra Leone
15h30 to 18h00 Adoption of the reports on Solomon Islands, Seychelles, Latvia, Singapore and Sierra Leone