The Universal Periodic Review "has great potential to promote and protect people in the darkest corners of the world," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process that requires an overview and analysis of the human rights situation every four years in all 192 UN member states. The Human Rights Council is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Universal Periodic Review, and it must be submitted by all member states, allowing each state to list the activities undertaken during the four-year period to raise the level of human rights protection and fulfill all obligations. One of the main tasks of the Council is to ensure equal treatment of all states in the process of assessing the human rights situation.
The UPR was established by the UN General Assembly on 13 March 2006 by Resolution 60/251, which also defined the Council's tasks. There is currently no universal mechanism of this kind in the world. The ultimate goal of this new mechanism is to improve the situation regarding respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in all member states, as well as to highlight any human rights violations that occur.
In Croatia, the process of creating shadow reports written by civil society organizations was presented at the Center for Human Rights in Zagreb.
The Human Rights House has taken over the coordination of writing the general report, which must not exceed ten pages, and numerous civil society organizations have so far confirmed their participation in the report drafting process.
The consultation process of all applicants will begin in March, as shadow reports must be sent to Geneva no later than April 19, 2010.
The address where you can still register is sanja@kucaljudskihprava.hr.
More information about the UPR can be found in English at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRMain.aspx
