The Universal periodic Review (UPR) is a new mechanism of the Human Rights Council under which it will review, on a regular basis, the fulfillment by all 192 UN Member States of their human rights obligations and commitments. The UPR is one of the key elements of the new Council which reminds States of their responsibility to fully respect and implement all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
“Recognizing the importance of the UPR as a mechanism through which civil society can influence state policies, Human Rights House Sarajevo organized this regional seminar. The aim was to make the UPR mechanism closer and more understandable to partnership organizations in the region, making the engagement of civil society in the UPR process more efficient and easier”, said Srdjan Dizdarevic, President of the Board of HRH Sarajevo.
The seminar in Dubrovnik was attended by 17 participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia, with guests from Canada, Norway and Switzerland.
The director of Rights and Democracy, a non-governmental organization from Canada, Ms. Cynthia Gervais presented the UPR mechanism, relevant resolutions concerning the UPR, procedures and the role of different stakeholders. The second lecturer was Florian Irminger, Coordinator of Human Rights House Foundation in Geneva with the presentation of the UPR case study of Switzerland. Mr. Irminger shared the experience Switzerland has had with the UPR and the benefits they have gained with the help of UPR.
After being introduced to the UPR problems and hurdles by Niels Jacob Harbitz from Human Rights House Foundation in Oslo and after understanding the UPR process and mechanism, representatives from Bosnia ad Herzegovina and Croatia and representatives of Montenegro and Serbia split into work groups where they defined what has to be done in preparation of the UPR in the region of the South-East Europe.
The conclusion of the participants was to create before September 2009, a broad NGO coalition which will consist of the civil actors in the region, in order to discuss the Human Rights’ issues with the state authorities and to prepare their own report.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is on the agenda of the HRC during its Seventh Session scheduled for February 2010. It means that all the relevant reports, including the reports of NGO’s and from the Government, are to be submitted by September 2009.
The civil society actors, namely the NGO coalition for the UPR will thus, be in charge to lobby the members of the HRC and relevant international NGO’s in order to raise the most important issues during the UPR process aiming also at having concrete and clear recommendations for the BH authorities.
Finally, once the UPR process is concluded with the adoption of the HRC report and recommendations, the NGO UPR Coalition will monitor its implementation until the next UPR cycle in 2014.
According to Maria Dahle, the Executive Director of the HRH Foundation in Oslo, HRH Network will follow the work in South-East Europe and connect Human Rights Houses there with other organizations and experts from abroad that could be useful to contact regarding the UPR.
“I expect both, Human Rights Houses in Zagreb and in Sarajevo to establish the cooperation, be active in production of the shadow report and also in the lobbying at both, the international and the national level. Those countries and their work will serve as a direction to the other states that are coming under universal periodical review,“ said Ms. Dahle.
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