October 2020 UPR Updates

Members of the Network have recently completed an intense period of lobbying government missions to ensure that urgent human rights issues are brought to their attention prior to the upcoming UPR on November 9. During the review session, those governments will question the US government about the human rights issues and make recommendations to the United States on improving or remedying specific violations of human rights.

We are grateful to all of the Issue-Area Working Groups who participated in lobbying. They shared valuable information with government missions and the work that they have done will make an impact in the UPR process.

How can you stay engaged? The next step is for all of us to publicize the UPR as much as possible and encourage our networks to watch the UPR broadcast on UN TV. We must make sure that as many eyes as possible are following this process and that we are holding our government accountable. Some advocates are publicizing the UPR by tweeting about it or sharing information on Facebook. Some are writing opinion pieces for their local newspapers, or press statements.

Tune In. On November 9, 14:30 Geneva time, you will be able to watch the UPR live on UN TV. There will also be a recording afterwards. The link to access the broadcast on November 9 is here. We will be live-tweeting the UPR session, so join us!

On November 17, the USHRN will hold a post-UPR debrief session. We will share details about joining the debrief in our upcoming newsletter and here on upr2020.org, so be on the lookout for details.

Need more information? The UPR reports submitted by civil society organizations are available here. The USHRN Executive Summary Report is here. The UPR report submitted by the US government is accessible here.

If you have any questions, please contact Kerry McLean, Esq., UPR Coordinator, at kmclean@ushrnetwork.org.