Iraq’s human rights record to be reviewed by Universal Periodic Review
Iraq’s human rights record will be examined by the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the third time on Monday, 11 November 2019 in a meeting that will be webcast live in English and Arabic.
Iraq is one of the 14 States to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during its upcoming session taking place from 4 to 15 November.
Iraq’s first and second UPR reviews took place in February 2010 and November 2014, respectively.
The documents on which the reviews are based are:
1) national report - information provided by the State under review.
2) information contained in the reports of independent human rights experts and groups, known as the Special Procedures, human rights treaty bodies, and other UN entities.
3) information provided by other stakeholders including national human rights institutions, regional organizations and civil society groups.
The three reports serving as the basis for the review of Iraq on 11 November can be found here.
The UPR is a unique process which involves a periodic review of the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States. Since its first meeting was held in April 2008, all 193 UN member States have been reviewed twice within the first and second UPR cycles.
During the third UPR cycle, States are again expected to spell out steps they have taken to implement recommendations posed during their previous reviews which they committed to follow-up on, as well as to highlight recent human rights developments in the country.
The delegation of Iraq will be headed by Farooq Ameen Othman, Minister of Justice
The three country representatives serving as rapporteurs (“troika”) for the review of Iraq are: Bahrain, Czechia and Uruguay
The list of speakers and all available statements to be delivered during the review of Iraq will be posted on the UPR Extranet
The UPR Working Group is scheduled to adopt the recommendations made to Iraq at 17.00 on 14 November.
The State under review may wish to express its positions on recommendations posed to it during their review. The recommendations will be shared with the media on this day in advance.