Vanuatu’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 Thursday, 24 January 2019.
Vanuatu is one of the 14 States to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during its upcoming session taking place from 21 January to 1 February.
According to a UN advisory, Vanuatu’s’ first and second UPR reviews took place in May 2009 and January 2014, respectively.
The documents on which the reviews are based are the national report which is information provided by the State under review as well as 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.
Information provided by other stakeholders including national human rights institutions, regional organizations and civil society groups will also be considered.
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 Vanuatu will be headed by Don Ken, Minister of Justice and Community Services.
The three country representatives serving as rapporteurs (“troika”) for the review of Vanuatu are: Angola, Iraq and Croatia.
The UPR Working Group is scheduled to adopt the recommendations made to Vanuatu on 29 January.
The State under review may wish to express its positions on recommendations posed to it during their review.
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