On December 10 we celebrate the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and reaffirm our commitment to the protection of human rights for all.
2023 marks, in particular, the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration. This year is therefore an opportunity to rejuvenate thinking on how the Declaration is relevant to people today, as human rights bring solutions to the world’s biggest challenges.
As NGOs committed for the protection of human rights worldwide, we believe that the United Nations human rights mechanisms represent an irreplaceable tool to report and address human rights challenges. Therefore, we reaffirm our commitment to engage with the UN system to voice the concerns of the most vulnerable populations we work with and for around the world.
In particular, this NGO coalition welcomes the commitment of Member States to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism process over the years. Moving forward to the next UPR cycles, the main goal is to ensure an effective implementation of the UPR recommendations to advance the realization of human rights at the local level.
This coalition of NGOs fully agrees that this should be the priority for the UPR process and that further efforts should be deployed to this end.
Based on the experience gained in several years of working with this mechanism, we recommend to prioritize the following:
- Accessibility of UPR Recommendations at the Local Level
Widespread dissemination of recommendations locally is still lacking. Further efforts are needed to enhance the role of media in raising awareness of the UPR and the human rights issues that it raises.
- Strengthening Awareness Raising and Capacity Building for Local Actors
To boost better implementation, there is a need to empower not only advocacy professionals, but also those providing human rights related services (for instance in the education or health sector or supporting survivors of human rights violations), both within the government and civil society. The accountability framework can be strengthened formulating SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound) recommendations, fostering transparency and accessibility to local actors, and developing human rights monitoring plans with baselines and objective-oriented human rights indicators.
We recommend implementing targeted capacity building initiatives to widen the pool of actors reached and ensure that human rights education and monitoring is systematically undertaken by key local stakeholders, including the government, the judiciary, the Parliament, and Congress.
- National Mechanisms for Reporting and Follow Up (NMRFs)
In order to gain more in the promotion and protection of human rights on the ground, there is a need to establish National Mechanisms for Reporting and Follow Up (NMRFs). Despite some positive results, much remains to be done to make this mechanism a widespread and effective practice.
We call upon all Member States to set up and/or strengthen NMRFs in order to enhance implementation efforts of relevant government institutions in consultation with Civil Society.
- Emphasis on Youth and Environment and Climate
Since the adoption of the UN Youth Strategy “Youth 2030” important steps were taken to strengthen meaningful youth engagement and participation in global processes and frameworks relevant to them. Climate change and human rights clearly appear to be topics at the forefront of their concerns. Hence, in its resolution 51/17, the Human Rights Council decided to incorporate into its programme of work a biennial panel discussion on youth and human rights, identifying the theme of young people’s engagement with climate change and global environmental decision-making processes as the focus of the first biennial panel in 2023. The accelerating pace of climate change and its profound impact on ecosystems, economies and societies underscore the need for inclusive and comprehensive solutions. The active involvement of youth in decision-making spaces related to climate action is a vital imperative within the global discourse on sustainability and environmental resilience.
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) offers a great opportunity for Members States to report and assess efforts undertaken at the national level to address environment concerns regarding climate change. It also provides a key venue to call attention to the situation of youth around the world, evaluating their access to human rights and identifying existing gaps as well as boosting strategies to empower young people as leaders and advocates for human rights and climate action. Nevertheless, we regret to note that the attention devoted to young people and environmental protection during countries UPRs remain limited. As a result, only a few generic recommendations are made on these topics.
We call upon Member Stares to ensure that youth rights and environmental protection in the context of climate change are systematically and adequately addressed in the UPR, both through their comprehensive and detailed presentations as States under Review as well as through specific recommendations they address as recommending States during the reviews of other countries.
Signed by:
Centre Catholique Intenational de Genève
Associazione Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII
Dominicans for Justice and Peace
Edmund Rice International
Fédération Internationale de l’Action des chrétiens pour l’abolition de la torture
International Volunteerism Organization for Women, Education, Development
Istituto Internazionale Maria Ausiliatrice