Universal Periodic Review

The Universal Periodic Review is a "process which involves a review of the human rights records of all 192 UN Member States once every four years." It is structured to provide each State the opportunity "to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations."

The next session (9th) is scheduled for November 2010. The U.S. is one of the countries slated for review. As a result, a number of NGOs and other organizations have prepared reports for the UN Human Rights Council that express their concerns regarding the treatment of immigrants and refugees and provide proposals for reform. These will eventually be made available via the UPR web site but in the interim, here are a few examples of submissions that focus on the U.S. record:

• Human Rights First Submission to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (Human Rights First, March 2010) [text]


• Submission by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Compilation Report Universal Periodic Review: United States of America (UNHCR, April 2010) [text]


• Takin' it to the Council (IntLawGrrls, April 2010) [text] (blog post that links to four different reports compiled by immigrant and refugee rights organizations)


• Universal Periodic Review: United States (Human Rights Watch, March 2010) [text] (see subsection on "Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers")

The U.S. State Department has more information on the UPR process and how to provide feedback.

UNHCR has prepared submissions on other countries as well; these can be accessed via Refworld. Not all country profiles are currently available but no doubt will be posted in the near future.

See UPR-Info.org and UPR Watch for more general information on the UPR process; both sites allow you to search by theme (e.g., "asylum seekers," "refugees," etc.), but the latter produces more focused results.

[Photo credit for Human Rights Council image: US Mission in Geneva]

Tagged Publications.