Belarus’ human rights record to be examined by Universal Periodic Review
GENEVA (29 October 2020) – Belarus’ human rights record will be examined by the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the third time on Monday, 2 November 2020 in a meeting that will be webcast live in English and Russian.
Belarus is one of the 14 States to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during its upcoming session taking place from 2 to 13 November *. Belarus’ first and second UPR reviews took place in May 2010 and May 2015, respectively.
The documents on which the reviews are based are: 1) national report - information provided by the State under review; 2) 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; 3) information provided by other stakeholders including national human rights institutions, regional organizations and civil society groups.
The three reports serving as the basis for the review of Belarus on 2 November can be found here.
Location: Assembly Hall, Palais des Nations, Geneva [NB: Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the meeting will be held using a combination of in-person and remote participation, and media is encouraged to follow the proceedings on webcast]
Time and date: 09.00 – 12.30, Monday, 2 November (Geneva time, GMT +1 hour)
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 Belarus will be headed by Ambassador Yury Ambrazevich, Permanent Representative of Belarus to the UN Office at Geneva
The three country representatives serving as rapporteurs (“troika”) for the review of Belarus are: Afghanistan, Mexico and Sudan.
The webcast of the session will be at http://webtv.un.org
The list of speakers and all available statements to be delivered during the review of Belarus will be posted on the UPR Extranet.
The UPR Working Group is scheduled to adopt the recommendations made to Belarus at 15.00 on 6 November. The State under review may wish to express its positions on recommendations posed to it during their review.
* The UPR 36th session was originally scheduled to be held from 4 to 15 May 2020, although was postponed due to COVID-19 measures.
