2023 Starts with 13 Countries' Human Rights Records to be Reviewed
The 42nd session of the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group will be held in Geneva from 23 January to 3 February 2023. The States that will be reviewed by the 42nd UPR Working Group are (in order of scheduled review): Czechia, Argentina, Gabon, Ghana, Peru, Guatemala, Benin, Korea (Republic of), Switzerland, Pakistan, Zambia, Japan and Sri Lanka. Ukraine's UPR was postponed by the Human Rights Council due to the current situation in the country. For this reason, 13 countries – instead of 14- will have their human rights records examined by their peers under this mechanism.
Representatives of the States under Review (SuR) are scheduled to come before the Working Group to share updates on the implementation of the recommendations received at the last review and inform on the actions taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries.
Each review will last 3½ hours. The SuR is given a total of 70 minutes to address the Working Group. This time is usually used to make introductory remarks, summarising their National Report, reply to recommendations and questions raised on specific human rights topics during the interactive dialogue. The remaining 140 minutes are allocated to the Interactive Dialogue of the Working Group Session, a dynamic space for peer-to-peer debate. States participating in the review, known as Recommending States (RS), have the opportunity to ask questions, note comments and, crucially, make recommendations to the SuR. The review for each State is facilitated by groups of three Council members from different regional groups, or troikas, who act as rapporteurs.
The timetable of State reviews and adoption and distribution of reports can be found below, as well as here. The Troikas for the 13 countries reviewed can be found here.
The final outcome of the 42 session will be adopted by the plenary of the Human Rights Council at its fifty-third regular session taking place in Geneva from 19 June to 14 July 2023.
Timetable for the Universal Periodic Review Working Group 42nd Session: (Contains links to UPR Info’s Country page)
Monday, 23 January
09h00 – 12h30 Review of Czechia
14h30 – 18h00 Review of Argentina
Tuesday, 24 January
09h00 – 12h30 Review of Gabon
14h30 – 18h00 Review of Ghana
Wednesday, 25 January
09h00 – 12h30 Review of Peru and distribution of the report on Czechia
14h30 – 18h00 Review of Guatemala and distribution of the report on Argentina
Thursday, 26 January
09h00 – 12h30 Review of Benin and distribution of the report on Gabon
14h30 – 18h00 Review of The Republic of Korea and distribution of the report on Ghana
Friday, 27 January
09h00 – 12h30 Review of Switzerland and distribution of the report on Peru
15h30 – 18h00 Distribution of the report on Guatemala and adoption of the reports on Czechia, Argentina, Gabon, Ghana and Peru
Monday, 30 January
09h00 – 12h30 Review of Pakistan and distribution of the report on Benin
14h30 – 18h00 Review of Zambia and distribution of the report on the Republic of Korea
Tuesday, 31 January
09h00 – 12h30 Review of Japan and distribution of the report on Switzerland
Wednesday, 1 February
09h00-12h30 Review of Sri Lanka and distribution of the report on Pakistan
15h30 – 18h00 Distribution of the report on Zambia and adoption of the reports on Guatemala, Benin, The Republic of Korea, Switzerland and Pakistan
Thursday, 2 February
12h30 Distribution of the report on Japan
Friday, 3 February
12h30 Distribution of the report on Sri Lanka
16h30-18h00 Adoption of the reports on Zambia, Japan and Sri Lanka