ELEVENTH SESSION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL’S UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW TO BE HELD FROM 2 TO 13 MAY 2011

Sixteen States will have their human rights records examined during the eleventh session of the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review Working Group to be held in Geneva from 2 to 13 May. These countries are (in order of review) Belgium, Denmark, Palau, Somalia, the Seychelles, the Solomon Islands, Latvia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Suriname, Greece, Samoa, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Hungary and Papua New Guinea.

By the end of this two-week session, 175 States (out of 192 Member States of the United Nations) will have had their human rights records examined by the Universal Periodic Review Working Group. In December 2011, when this first four-year cycle will reach its end, all United Nations’ Member States will have been reviewed under this mechanism.

Representatives of the 16 countries under review are expected to come before the Working Group, which comprises the entire membership of the 47-member Human Rights Council and Observer States, to present measures they have taken and efforts they have made to fulfill their human rights obligations and commitments, assessing both positive developments and identifying challenges.

The three documents on which reviews are based are: information prepared by the State concerned; a compilation of information contained in UN reports; and a summary of information provided by other relevant stakeholders (non-governmental organizations, national human rights institutions, human rights defenders, academic institutions and research institutes, civil society representatives, etc.).

All together, each country review – constituted of a presentation by the concerned State and an interactive dialogue with the Council – will last three hours. An additional half hour will be devoted to the adoption of the report of each review by the Working Group. The final outcome document, including recommendations made by States and the position of the State under review on the recommendations, will be adopted by the plenary of the Council at its eighteenth regular session, in September 2011.

The eleventh Universal Periodic Review Working Group session will take place in Room XX – The Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Chamber – at the Palais des Nations. The provisional timetable for the meeting is available on http://www2.ohchr.org/SPdocs/UPR/Timetable_11th_Session.doc

Additional information on the Universal Periodic Review mechanism, including the reports for each country review can be located on the Human Rights Council website: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRMain.aspx

For more information and media requests, please contact Cédric Sapey, csapey@ohchr.org, +41 22 917 9657 or +41 79 477 4411

For use of the information media; not an official record

HRC11/057E