Universal Periodic Review

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) was created on 15 March 2006, by UN General Assembly resolution 60/251. The UPR is a State-driven process which provides opportunities for each Member State to declare what actions they’ve taken to improve human rights in their countries and full their human rights obligations.

The UPR is a process which reviews the human rights records of all 192 UN Member States once every four years. The basis of the review is:

The Charter of the United Nations

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Human rights instruments to which a State is party

Please click for more information on How the UPR works.

Australia's 2011 appearance for the UPR.

Australia will be reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on 27 January 2011.  

NGOs  provided information to a number of sources including:

UN Human Rights Council on Australia’s human rights record (NGOs must limit their submission to 5 pages);

NGO Working Group on the UPR

Attorney-Generals Department

NGO Working Group on the UPR

A working group of interested NGOs was established to coordinate the preparation of a joint 5‑page NGO Report for Australia's UPR appearance in January 2011.  The working group was open to all civil society groups. 

 Timeline of NGO UPR Reporting

Monday 10 May 2010 - Contributions to the NGO UPR Report received

Monday 17 May 2010 at 2pm (EST).- NACLC, HRLRC and Kingsford collate and analyse the issues of priority for further discussion.

Wednesday 9th June -  first draft

Thursday 17th June - NGO UPR Report open for NGO endorsement

Saturday 17th July -  Joint NGO UPR Report July 2010 Report final submission date with the UN Human Rights Council.

Please click for further information on the NGO UPR Reporting process through National Association of Community Legal Centres (including their submission) and Human Rights Law Resource Centre.

For further information on the NGO working group, please contact:

Anna Cody, Kingsford Legal Centre, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , ph:  (02) 9385 9566
Louise Edwards, National Association of CLCs, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , ph:  (02) 9264 9595
Ben Schokman, Human Rights Law Resource Centre, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , ph:  (03) 8636 4451

Attorney-Generals Department (Australian Governments National Report to UPR)

The Attorney-General’s Department is seeking public comment on the draft National Report. Comments are due  by 20 August 2010.

Further information and copies of the draft National Report can be accessed from the Attorney-Generals Department website.

Copies of the draft National Report can also be downloaded from here.