The international community has at its disposal a comprehensive institutional machinery to respond to human rights concerns around the world. At its centre are the UN Human Rights Council, the Special Procedure system, the Treaty Body system, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Since its establishment in 2005, the UPR is widely seen as a success within the international human rights promotion system. Key to that success is the mechanism’s universality –it covers, potentially, every human rights concern in every country– as well as its peer review and cooperative character.
URG’s multi-year project on the UPR analyses the political history of the UPR from its inception, examining each stage of the ‘UPR cycle’ to see what lessons can be learnt from the UPR’s first ten years, to identify achievements and weaknesses, and to offer ideas for the future strengthening of the mechanism.
