An academic study of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) from the perspective of Children’s Rights

An academic study of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) from the perspective of Children’s Rights. This study was undertaken within the framework of a thesis towards the Master of Advanced Studies in Children’s Rights at the Institut Universitaire Kurt Bosch – University of Fribourg. The thesis undertakes a study of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) from the perspective of children’s rights. The UPR is a new mechanism of the Human Rights Council (HRC) based in Geneva. The study analyses the effectiveness of the UPR as a mechanism for promoting and protecting human rights, with the focus on children’s rights. The genius of the UPR is that it is a relatively quick mechanism, it is universal, i.e. every state is reviewed, and that it embraces three main actors: the states themselves, UN treaty bodies, and civil society, including NHRIs and NGOs, in an open and transparent manner.
With the completion of the first cycle of the UPR and the first group of states just finishing their second review, it is timely to consider how effective the UPR has been. The main body of the research examines children’s rights within the UPR system as a whole – noting trends and issues to see where children’s rights fit within the spectrum of other human rights’ concerns