Judith Sunderland (Milan, Human Rights Watch): This week, the United Nations Human Rights Council is holding the very first session of a new country assessment mechanism called the "Universal Periodic Review" (UPR). The United Kingdom will come under scrutiny today, April 10, as one in the first batch of sixteen countries to undergo the peer review (watch the review live here 9-12am). A serious evaluation of the UK's human rights record, that takes into account input from national and international NGOs, will go a long way to establishing the credibility of this new review process.
The UPR is one of the most important innovations within the UN human rights system. As its name indicates, the mechanism is designed to be truly universal, with every member of the United Nations to undergo a human rights assessment every four years. It's not a perfect mechanism; states will be evaluated by other states, and the risk of a "protect our own" spirit emerging is very real. Much will depend on how much weight is given to the voice of independent nongovernmental organizations and the UN's own experts.
The UPR is also an opportunity to improve the record of the Human Rights Council, itself a young institution that was created two years ago to replace the Commission on Human Rights. The Council has yet to prove its institutional willingness to respond effectively to human rights crises around the world. Politicization and polarization continue to undermine its work. Nevertheless it has the potential to be far more effective than it has been, and an objective, even-handed UPR process is a concrete way for member states to demonstrate this.
And the UK needs an effective UPR. Over the past five years, the government has undermined the absolute prohibition on torture by seeking diplomatic assurances from countries where torture and other abuses are rife in order to deport terrorism suspects, imposed extensive restrictions on liberty, first through indefinite detention of foreign nationals alleged to be terrorism suspects, and now with control orders, and progressively increased the amount of time alleged terrorism suspects can be held in police custody before being charged.
These are just some of the issues the UK should be challenged on in today's "interactive dialogue." The seriousness of the questions and the UPR's conclusions and recommendations will help us see whether the Council will fulfill its promise.
