PRST/8/1 Modalities and practices for the universal periodic review process

Human Rights Council

8/PRST/1. Modalities and practices for the universal periodic review process

On 9 April 2008, the President of the Council made a statement reading as follows:

I. Modalities of work for troika members before the session of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review

1. States that wish to raise questions and/or issues with the State under review may do so

via the troika, which shall relay them to the Secretariat. These questions and/or issues should

conform to the basis of the review, as identified by the Human Rights Council in paragraph 1

of the annex to its resolution 5/1 on institution-building of the Council, and shall be raised in a

manner that is consistent with the principles and objectives of the universal periodic review,

as stated in resolution 5/1, and be based mainly on the three universal periodic review

documents.

2. The Secretariat shall then transmit all questions and/or issues to the State under review

no later than 10 working days before the date of the review in the Working Group on the

Universal Periodic Review.

3. The troika members shall cluster the questions and/or issues in accordance with the

content and the structure of the report prepared by the State under review.

4. As the universal periodic review is, inter alia, a transparent process, the questions and/or

issues will be circulated among Member and Observer States after being relayed to the State

under review.

5. The State under review is sovereign in addressing the questions and/or issues it chooses to

answer of those transmitted to it by the troika members or raised during the proceedings of the

Working Group.

II. Modalities for the review in the Working Group

6. The interactive dialogue of the universal periodic review exercise takes place solely in the

Working Group of the Universal Periodic Review.

7. The State under review will be given up to 60 minutes in the Working Group, to be used

for:

(a) Initial presentation of the national report / responses to written questions;

(b) Replies to the questions raised from the floor during the interactive dialogue, if

desired;

(c) Concluding comments at the end of the review, in an interactive dialogue under the

guidance of the President.

III. Report of the Working Group

8. The Working Group shall prepare a factual report of its proceedings, consisting of a

summary of the interactive dialogue, which will reflect recommendations and/or conclusions

made by delegations during the interactive dialogue.

9. The report of the Working Group shall be prepared by the troika by fully involving the

State under review and with the assistance of the Secretariat.

10. The State under review is expected to examine all recommendations made, in

accordance with the provisions of the annex to Council resolution 5/1. In all cases, the

recommendations that enjoy the support of the State under review are to be identified as such.

Other recommendations, together with the comments of the State under review, are to be

noted. Both will be included in the report of the Working Group, to be adopted by the Council

at its plenary session. The State under review is expected to follow up on the

recommendations that enjoy its support as well as on voluntary commitments and pledges.

11. The State under review will inform the Council about its views concerning the

recommendations and/or conclusions as well as voluntary commitments/pledges whenever it

is in a position to do so, during the meeting of the Working Group, or between the session of

the Working Group and the next session of the Council, or during the meeting of the Council

at its plenary session.

IV. Modalities at the plenary session

12. The review process starts at Working Group level and ends with the adoption of the

outcome of the review by the Council at its plenary session.

13. The report of the Working Group, together with the views of the State under review

concerning the recommendations and/or conclusions, as well as voluntary commitments made

by the State under review and replies presented by the State under review before the adoption

of the outcome by the Council at its plenary session to questions or issues that were not

sufficiently addressed during the interactive dialogue in the Working Group, will constitute

the outcome of the review, which shall be adopted by the Council at its plenary session

through a standardized decision.

14. A summary of the views expressed on the outcome of the review by the State under

review and of Member and Observer States of the Council, as well as general comments made

by other relevant stakeholders before the adoption of the outcome by the plenary, will be

included in the report of the Council session.

V. General modalities

15. Only the three documents mentioned in paragraph 15 of the annex to Council resolution

5/1 as constituting the basis of the review will be posted on the Extranet.

16. The Council will consider favourably the adoption of a decision on the webcasting of all

public proceedings of its various working groups, taking into account the principles of

transparency, equal treatment and non-selectivity.