Status of Children’s Rights in the Universal Periodic Review

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a new mechanism of the United Nations (UN) under which the Human Rights Council (HRC) examines the human rights situation in every Member State of the UN. Each State is examined once every four years and by other States. This report’s two main objectives are to determine the extent to which children’s rights are addressed in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), and to assess ways in which civil society organizations can engage most effectively with the mechanism.The intention of this report is to identify trends in the UPR and provide organizations with a platform to futher understand what the UPR is, how it operates, and how they can engage with it.
The report provides the following: a guide to engaging with the Universal Periodic Review; an analysis of how children’s rights were addressed in the mechanism; a look at which States make recommendations on which children’s rights issues; a comprehensive account of reporting on, and advocacy approaches to the UPR by a range of organizations; and a guide to the reports of the144 countries that have completed their initial reviews, detailing children’s rights references in the UPR.