INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND PEER REVIEW: ASSESSING THE UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW MECHANISM OF THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 353-377
Author(s):  
Edward R. McMahon
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Periodic Review ◽  
Universal Periodic Review ◽  
Human Rights Council ◽  
Review Mechanism ◽  
The United Nations

Part V Institutions and Actors, Ch.25 From Commission to the Council: Evolution of UN Charter Bodies

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kothari Miloon
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Periodic Review ◽  
Universal Periodic Review ◽  
Human Rights Council ◽  
The World ◽  
State Actors ◽  
The United Nations

This article examines the evolution of the United Nations� (UN) human rights agency from the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) into the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). It explains that UNHRC was created in March 2006 to replace the UNCHR and become the world�s premier human rights body. It evaluates the effectiveness of the UNHRC�s peer-review human rights mechanism called the Universal Periodic Review. This article also offers some suggestions on how to improve the performance of the UNHRC including changes in size and distribution of membership, membership criteria, voting patterns and participation of non-state actors.

The Suicide of Ms. Liu and Other Chinese Persecution Stories

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Massimo Introvigne
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Consistent Pattern ◽  
Periodic Review ◽  
Universal Periodic Review ◽  
Human Rights Council ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Extrajudicial Killing ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Church

The chapter tells the stories of persecution, arrest, detention, torture, and in some cases extrajudicial killing of nine members of The Church of Almighty God in China. All the stories reveal the real names of the victims and are supported by documents filed with the Human Rights Council of the United Nations during the 2018 Universal Periodic Review of China and published on the website of the United Nations. They evidence a consistent pattern of repression and abuse. The victims were arrested for no other crime than being active in a banned religious group. Members of their families were also threatened and persecuted. Extra-judicial killings were covered up, and families were told that natural causes were responsible for the victims’ deaths.

scholarly journals Canada, the United Nations Human Rights Council, and Universal Periodic Review

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (1, 2 & 3) ◽  
pp. 2009
Author(s):  
Joanna Harrington
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Periodic Review ◽  
Universal Periodic Review ◽  
Human Rights Council ◽  
The United Nations

Canada, the United Nations Human Rights Council, and Universal Periodic Review

State Behaviour at the Universal Periodic Review: An Examination of India’s Third Review at the United Nations Human Rights Council

2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-206
Author(s):  
Ashwath Komath
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Community ◽  
Periodic Review ◽  
Statistical Inferences ◽  
Universal Periodic Review ◽  
Human Rights Council ◽  
State Behaviour ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Patterns Of Interaction

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) has been a promising instrument in the hands of the United Nations Human Rights Council. With more emphasis on constructive criticism than an adversarial approach, it was thought that this method would help states to improve their human rights records. This article takes the case of India’s last review through this process and derives various trends and patterns of interaction with other states. It starts by outlining the process of the UPR itself and how it works procedurally, after which it highlights India’s presentation of its human rights record, and subsequently how the international community reacted to it. One of the core arguments of this article is that when it comes to human rights, it is important to analyse its politics through a regional lens since geographical continuities determine an overall outlook towards human rights and priorities that states highlight when they consider human rights records on the whole. This is further substantiated by looking at instances when bilateralism has not succeeded in its goals. It also makes certain statistical inferences after close examination of the recommendations posed by states, as well as India’s response (or lack thereof) to those recommendations. The article also highlights certain cases from India’s domestic developments to see how it plays out in the international community and their perception of India’s human rights record.

Italy and the Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Playing the two-level game

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Cofelice
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Role Theory ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Periodic Review ◽  
Universal Periodic Review ◽  
Human Rights Council ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Impact

The aim of this article is to assess Italy’s behaviour in the framework of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Nations Human Rights Council, both as a recommending state and as a state under review. The UPR is a peer review mechanism launched in 2008, through which all UN member states can make recommendations to each other regarding human rights practices. Drawing on role theory, liberal and constructivist institutionalism, and the two-level game approach, the analysis reveals that Italian decision-makers played parallel games at the domestic and international tables of the UPR, and managed to adapt country’s human rights foreign policy goals according to the different social contexts where they operated. Indeed, while in the review phase in Geneva, Italy sought legitimacy for both its policies and its status as an international ‘human rights friendly’ actor, at domestic level a policy of inactivity was chosen, in order to minimize the impact of the most costly UPR recommendations, and protect the dynamics of domestic politics. The time-span of the analysis covers the first 19 UPR sessions (2008–14), broadly coinciding with Italy’s first two membership terms at the Human Rights Council.

Comparing Peer Reviews: The Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council and the African Peer Review Mechanism

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward R. McMahon ◽  
Kojo Busia ◽  
Marta Ascherio
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Periodic Review ◽  
Peer Reviews ◽  
Universal Periodic Review ◽  
Human Rights Council ◽  
State Governance ◽  
Review Mechanism ◽  
Consensus Decision Making

Abstract The Universal Periodic Review Mechanism (UPR) of the UN Human Rights Council and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) reflect a growing trend in international organizations to utilize peer review processes to assess and improve member state governance and human rights performance. The two mechanisms are distinct in many ways. For example, the APRM undertakes a more in-depth and rigorous examination of a broader range of issues. Both review mechanisms, however, also have similarities e.g. they emphasize follow-up and actions to be taken as a result of the reviews and are products of a consensus decision-making process based on voluntary engagement. They represent an evolutionary process by which international norms can be integrated in a national context.

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