UNA-USA Submits Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Report

On September 12, 2014 UNA-USA officially submitted its completed Universal Periodic Review (UPR) stakeholder report on human rights in the U.S to both the UN’s human rights office and the U.S. State Department. The UPR is a new tool of the UN Human Rights Council, the UN’s top human rights organ, that reviews the human rights situation of all 193 UN members. Civil society organizations like UNA-USA have a strong role to play in the reviews by submitting accompanying reports detailing human rights related challenges and progress in each country.  To date, 100% of all UN member-states have participated in the UPR.

The report, the first-ever UPR submission from UNA-USA, was compiled through a UNA-USA nationwide consultation process that took place from March until August 2014. The process involved five UPR consultation events among UNA-USA chapters. These participatory, consultative events were held at UNA-Georgetown (March 28); UNA-Greater Chicago (May 1); UNA-Southern New York State (May 21); the UNA-USA annual meeting in Washington, DC (June 9); and UNA-Phoenix (August 16). Collectively, the events featured more than 100 participants both in person and via online communication platforms, with input integrated from the East Coast of the United States to the Hawaiian Islands. The consultations focused on the four primary themes including LGBT rights, empowering women and girls, combatting human trafficking, and human rights treaties. Participants, ranging from 25 to 35 per consultation, were asked to share their direct, firsthand experiences on the domestic U.S. human rights record and to offer constructive ideas, suggestions and recommendations for the U.S. moving forward. Participants included a diverse group of American and non-American college and high school students, community leaders, non-profit leaders, private sector entrepreneurs, human rights advocates, public sector retirees and legal professionals.

In drafting and compiling this report, UNA-USA has identified prominent trends, recommendations and other content that emerged from the 2014 UPR consultations. The official UPR of the United States is scheduled for May 2015 in Geneva, where the Human Rights Council is based.

View the report