UPR Info organises Pre-sessions in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the human rights situation of States two months prior to their review by the Working Group.
The purpose of these pre-sessions is to save time and resources to civil society organisations (CSOs) and to enable them to meet several delegations at once. For delegations, these meetings offer them the opportunity to be briefed by CSOs about the human rights situation in the State under Review (SuR).
The pre-session for each SuR lasts one hour. The National human rights institution and CSOs are given between 5 to 10 minutes each, depending on the number of participants, to share their assessment of the human rights situation in the country since the previous review and the progress accomplished by the SuR to implement the recommendations.
All permanent missions, including the State under Review, are invited and are given ten minutes at the end to ask questions to CSOs.
The first pre-sessions were held form 29 March to 4th April for States to be reviewed at the 13th session of the UPR Working Group from 21st May to 4th June: Algeria, Bahrain, Brazil, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Morocco, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Tunisia, and the United Kingdom. Read a summary here.
The pre-sessions for the 14th Working Group session (22 October - 5 November 2012) will take place from 27 to 31 of August in 1 rue de Varemb?, Geneva.
Monday 27 August:
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 3pm-4pm Argentina
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 4pm-4:30pm Czech Republic
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 4:30pm-5pm Ghana
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 3pm-4pm Argentina
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 4pm-4:30pm Czech Republic
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 4:30pm-5pm Ghana
Tuesday 28 August:
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 10am-11am Peru
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 11am-12pm Guatemala
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 12pm-1pm Switzerland
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 10am-11am Peru
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 11am-12pm Guatemala
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 12pm-1pm Switzerland
Wednesday 29 August:
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 10am-11am Benin
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 11am-12pm Republic of Korea
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 10am-11am Benin
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 11am-12pm Republic of Korea
Thursday 30 August:
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 10am-11am Pakistan
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 11am-12pm Zambia
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 12pm-1pm Japan
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 10am-11am Pakistan
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 11am-12pm Zambia
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 12pm-1pm Japan
Friday 31 August:
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 10am-11am Ukraine
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 12pm-1pm Sri Lanka
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 10am-11am Ukraine
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif 12pm-1pm Sri Lanka
The exact time and order of discussion within each day is subject to change. Please check our website closer to the date for the final timetable.
In order to ensure the smooth organisation of those pre-sessions, Permanent missions are kindly asked to let us know which pre-session they are planning to attend.
The pre-sessions are organised thanks to the support of the Canton of Geneva, the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland and IrishAid.
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a new and unique mechanism of the United Nations which started in April 2008 and consists of the review of the human rights practices of all States in the world, once every four years.
You will find on this website useful information on the UPR: States reports; OHCHR summaries and compilations; NGOs submissions; reports of the Working Group; recommendations and their responses; webcasts of each review; press statements by NGOs; analyses of issues; videos; interviews and detailed explanations on how to engage in the process:
― > if you are a State, click here.
― > if you are a NGO, click here.
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif Detailed explanations of the Universal Periodic Review process: click here
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif Next session: Session 14 from 22 October to 5 November 2012
http://www.upr-info.org/squelettes-dist/puce.gif New documents:
. Programme of Work of the 21st session of the Human Rights Council (10-28 September), 6 August 2012.
. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "A Practical Guide for Civil Society: Universal Periodic Review" - A, E, F, R, S, 2012.
. Save the Children, "Universal Periodic Toolkit: A guide for country programme" - A, E, F, S, Portuguese, 2011.
. HRC President, Statement A/HRC/20/L.23, "Reports of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review ", on the word limit for each Working Group reports, July 2012.