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Empowering Civil Society Organisations at the UPR

Profile diverse empty faces vector abstract illustration

This project, funded by the British Academy and Leverhulme Trust, is led by Dr Alice Storey and supported by Melisa Oleschuk. Its aim is to empower civil society organisations (CSOs) to engage with UN’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism, in turn strengthening the domestic implementation of UPR recommendations. 

Research aims

This novel study has used an online survey and semi-structured interviews to create a significant dataset of the experiences of CSOs that engage with the UPR. The aim is to empower civil society organisations, in turn strengthening the domestic implementation of UPR recommendations. 

This work is important because CSOs play a substantial role in advocating for human rights and holding governments to account. By understanding their experiences of engaging with the UPR process, we can identify challenges alongside opportunities for improvement. Empowering these organisations can lead to more effective monitoring and implementation of UPR recommendations at the national level, creating a more robust human rights framework. Ultimately, this research aims to contribute to a more transparent, accountable, and inclusive human rights system that benefits individuals and communities worldwide.

Research outcomes

Empowering CSOs at the UPR: Report and Executive Summary

The findings of this study are set out in the “Empowering Civil Society Organisations at the UPR: Strengthening Implementation of Recommendations from the UN’s Universal Periodic Review” report.

Read the full report here

The findings identify actions to be taken through four themes:

  1. Empowering Civil Society
  2. Engaging with Domestic Governments
  3. Collaborating with UN Member States
  4. Supporting Role of the UN and OHCHR

The standalone executive summary, which provides a brief overview of the key points from this research, is available in five languages:

English 

العربية

Français

Español

русский

Report Launch Event: 22nd August 2024

The report was launched at an online event, hosted by UPR Info, on 22nd August 2024.

This event launched the study and its findings, hearing from the researchers and a panel of CSO representatives who shared their experiences of engaging with the UPR: 

  1. Tamás Dombos, Project Coordinator at Háttér Society, Hungary.
  2. Michael Kanyingi Kimuhu, Founder and CEO of MICOP CBO, Kenya.
  3. Gilbert Onyango, Founder and Executive Director of EACHrights, Kenya.
  4. Ms. Ntsikie Loteni, National Secretary of the National Albinism Task Force, South Africa.
The event concluded with a fruitful and thought-provoking discussion with the audience, where connections were made between organisations and support from various sources was offered, immediately achieving one of the key aims of the study: to empower CSOs at the UPR.
 

Empowering CSOs at the UPR: Factsheets

Four factsheets have been created, which summarise the action points to be considered by each of the four groups of UPR actors. For more details, the factsheets can be read in conjunction with the full report.

  1. Factsheet 1: CSO Advocacy Strategies
  2. Factsheet 2: Action Points for Domestic Governments
  3. Factsheet 3: Action Points for UN Member States
  4. Factsheet 4: Action Points for the UN and OHCHR

Empowering CSOs at the UPR: Video Series

To support civil society organisations to engage with the UN’s Universal Periodic Review, we have created a video series linked to the findings of the Empowering CSOs at the UPR study.

  1. What is the UPR (UPR Project at BCU)
  2. Writing SMART UPR Recommendations (UPR Project at BCU)
  3. Engaging in Implementation of UPR Recommendations (UPR Project at BCU)
  4. The UPR and Parliaments (University of Worcester)