The NLG, its International Committee, and Labor and Employment Committee all submitted reports to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of the U.S., scheduled for late November of 2010. The NLG reports are posted here and some of the reports posted by other human rights groups can be accessed at the US Human Rights Network website (www.ushrnetwork.org) under their UPR section.
The reports, limited to 10 pages, are well worth reviewing and involve issues of concern to NLG members. The US Human Rights Netowrk, a coalition of human rights organizations including the NLG (Marjorie Cohn is a member of their Board) also wrote their own “overarching report” which can be found on their website as well.
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process established by United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly resolution in March 2006, which involves a review of the human rights records of all 192 U.N. Member States by the UPR Working Group once every four years. The UPR is a mechanism of the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) and is based on the premise of equal treatment for all countries of the world. The process provides for all States to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to overcome challenges to the enjoyment of human rights. The UPR also provides for civil society and NGOs to submit their own reports, which will be posted on the UN website. The U.S. is undergoing its first UPR review in Geneva in late November 2010.
