CHARTER BASED MECHANISM: UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW

The charter based mechanism is an interplay of the working of multitude of agencies, in tandem, and, hence, even more complex than the discourse of Human Rights itself. But the most significant and striking among them is the Universal Periodic Review which needs a bit of explanation. It is a unique mechanism of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) that emerged from the 2005-2006 and is Commonly referred to as the UN-UPR. It was established by General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 3 April 2006 The UPR periodically examines the human rights performance of all UN Member States. It is intended to complement, not duplicate, the work of other human rights mechanisms, including the UN human rights treaty bodies. This is the first international human rights mechanism to address all countries and all human rights. The Working Group on the UPR, which is composed of the HRC's 47 Member States and chaired by the HRC President, conducts country reviews. This lecture, inter alia, focuses mainly on the mechanism of UPR as a tool of Human Rights Council for the reporting and monitoring purposes of Human Rights.