Social movements

Global: cedaw4change 3rd Univeral Periodic Review (1-12 December 2008)

NGO submission deadline is 14 July 2008

2008-05-16, Issue 371

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/socialmovements/48144

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The 3rd Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council (HRC) will be taking place from 1 - 12 December 2008. The countries that will be reviewed at this session are: Botswana, Bahamas, Burundi, Luxembourg, Barbados, Montenegro, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Liechtenstein, Serbia, Turkmenistan, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Colombia, Uzbekistan, Tuvalu.

The 3rd Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council (HRC) will be taking place from 1 - 12 December 2008. The countries that will be reviewed at this session are: Botswana, Bahamas, Burundi, Luxembourg, Barbados, Montenegro, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Liechtenstein, Serbia, Turkmenistan, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Colombia, Uzbekistan, Tuvalu.

What is the UPR?

The UPR mechanism is a new innovation in the UN human rights system, under which each UN member state will be reviewed periodically - at this stage every 4 years - on its human rights record by the other member States of the Human Rights Council. 48 countries will be reviewed each year.

How can NGOs engage in the UPR?

NGOs can provide written submissions for the UPR, by sending it to the Secretariat (OHCHR). The OHCHR will then compile your information into a 10 page summary.

This summary prepared by OHCHR will comprise of "credible and reliable information" received from "relevant stakeholders" (besides NGOs and civil society organizations, this includes National Human Rights Institutions).

What is the DEADLINE for submitting information?

The deadline for submission of reports for the 3rd UPR session is 14 July 2008.

What other information will the UPR be based on?

There are three types of documents on which basis the UPR will be conducted. Besides the summary of information from “other relevant stakeholders” (above), the UPR be based on 2 other sources information:

State’s parties information in the form of a national report - in a document of not more than 20 pages.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) compilation of information contained in the reports of treaty bodies, special procedures, and other relevant UN documents, not exceeding 10 pages.


What are the guidelines for written submissions?

- Ensure your submission is within 5 pages. A more detailed and factual report may be attached for reference. In particular, if you have recently submitted a shadow report for CEDAW or any other treaty bodies, we recommend that you make an executive summary your report (in 5 pages) and attach your report.


- Be sure to highlight the most critical issues of concern and express a sense of priority. Facts and details to support the priority issues, as well as possible recommendations to be made to the country under review, may be annexed for reference to the submission. You have to ensure that the presentation of information is easy to read and accessible!

- Language of submission – It is recommended that you submit the information in English, French or Spanish. The Secretariat may not have the capacity to read and summarize contributions in other languages;

- The information covered should be a maximum of four year-time period.

- Other relevant information to note:

Pledges by member states of the Human Rights Council – lobbying tool

In making your submission, we encourage you to refer to the pledge made by your government as a past or current member of the Human Rights Council. The pledge made by your government can used as leverage and is a very useful lobbying tool at both the international and national level. You can find the pledges made by states at www.ohchr.org/english/

Working with the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs)

You should note that the Human Rights Council is encouraging NHRIs to take a more active role in the UPR mechanism, in collating information and holding consultations with NGOs. That information is available here: http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/nhri_info.htm We encourage you to approach the NHRI in your country to find out at what stage they are at collating information.

Coordination with other NGOs

At the same time, we also urge that you to coordinate amongst NGOs nationally in collating and putting together information for the UPR. The OHCHR has limited time, resources and space in their summary to include your information. Coordinated submissions are therefore more effective.

Who do we send the information to?

Submissions should be sent by 14th July 2008 to UPRsubmissions@ohchr.org

In the title of your email – indicate that this is an NGO submission and indicate the related country (ies) (i.e. Submission by ‘name of NGO’ related to ‘name of country’ for session scheduled ‘indicate month and year’).

For further information on the UPR process please visit the OHCHR website at

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/NoteNGO.aspx You can also visit the following useful NGO website http://www.upr-info.org/ where you will find official documents for the review; summaries of every country’s review; outcome and follow-up of reviews; and webcasts of the HRC plenary sessions. The website also provides country information in relation to the Human Rights Council (pledges and commitments, position on resolutions) and general human rights information (ratified international treaties and ILO conventions, existing National Human Rights Mechanisms).

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