UN WATCH
THE universal periodic review (UPR) is a UN
H
uman Rights Council process obliging every UN member state to undergo peer review of its human rights record every 4.5 years.
They began in 2008 and are now on their fourth cycle – the 49th session concluded on 9 May. It all sounds very worthy till you realise there’s nothing to stop countries listening to everyone’s criticism and then ignoring it completely.
Laos is a case in point. At its review on 29 April there was no pretence that its human rights record had improved one whit since the last review – nor, indeed, since the preceding two. It received 271 recommendations from other countries, their themes the same as its last UPR, because Laotians have continued to disappear or turn up dead for speaking out on the very things the UNHRC stands for.