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Universal Periodic Review

The Universal Periodic Review “has great potential to promote and protect human rights in the darkest corners of the world.” – Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all UN Member States. The UPR is a State-driven process, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council, which provides the opportunity for each State to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations. As one of the main features of the Council, the UPR is designed to ensure equal treatment for every country when their human rights situations are assessed.

The UPR was created through the UN General Assembly on 15 March 2006 by resolution 60/251, which established the Human Rights Council itself. It is a cooperative process which, by October 2011, has reviewed the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States. Currently, no other universal mechanism of this kind exists. The UPR is one of the key elements of the Council which reminds States of their responsibility to fully respect and implement all human rights and fundamental freedoms. The ultimate aim of this mechanism is to improve the human rights situation in all countries and address human rights violations wherever they occur.

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/Upr/Pages/UPRMain.aspx

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Malaysiakini

The government must act against Comango, a coalition of 54 NGOs, for lowering Malaysia’s human rights record in the eyes of many European countries at the Universal Periodical Review (UPR) in Geneva last week, Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) said today.

At the UPR review last Thursday, some European countries called for Malaysia to recognise lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-sexual rights, give freedom of religion, including allowing apostasy, and to abolish Malay special rights in the country.

Isma blamed Comango for this.

“They not only instigated the people to be anti-establishment, they also lobbied UN member countries to press Malaysia to acknowledge matters that are against Islam and our country’s constitution, ” Isma vice-president Aminuddin Yahaya (left) is quoted saying in a report at ismaweb.net.

“The Comango movement looks like they may not quit but will continue to be a troublemaker in the future. If they are not censured, Malaysia may suffer turmoil,” Isma, which was also in Geneva, warned.

Punish Comango for shaming Malaysia at UPR, says Isma

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Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review Working Group to hold seventeenth session in Geneva from 21 October to 1 November
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Thursday, 24 October14h30 – 18h00 Review of Malaysia

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13866&LangID=E

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During the UPR, each of country was given a minute and five seconds to voice their feedback on Malaysia’s performance since the first review in 2009 and to give their respective proposals.

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Malaysiakini

Grilled on human rights, but Malaysia remains adamant

As 104 countries took their turns to grill Malaysia on its human rights record in Geneva on Thursday, one common theme was Malaysia’s lack of engagement with human rights instruments.

A delegation of local NGOs attending Malaysia’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on human rights in the Swiss city said during the review, many countries called on Malaysia to sign and ratify six core human rights conventions.

As for the three human rights conventions that Malaysia has already signed, the country has been pressured to remove its reservations on them and stipulate a time-line to implement them fully.

“In our view it will not be easy for the government to ignore these recommendations, as they did not come just from Western countries, but also from other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

“Muslim countries such as Egypt, the Maldives, Tunisia and Turkey also made this call, obviously seeing no threat to Islam in doing so, in contrast to views from certain Malaysian Muslim NGOs,” the NGOs said in a joint statement yesterday.

The statement was issued by the Coalition of Malaysian NGOs for the UPR Process (Comango), Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS) and the Bar Council.

In addition, they said, Malaysia has also been urged to sign the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which Malaysia said it would sign in April 2011 but has not done so.

Grilled on human rights, but Malaysia remains adamant

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YAHOO! NEWS MALAYSIA

United Nations member countries urged Malaysia last night to abolish capital punishment, repeal oppressive laws, and respect the rights of Orang Asli and individual religious practices.

These recommendations were made at a human rights peer review when 193 member countries of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), including Malaysia, met in Geneva, Switzerland, last night.

The purpose of the gathering was to conduct a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Malaysia, the second since 2009.

Many nations called on Malaysia to ratify the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination as racism was clearly still a major issue in the country.

The United States urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to keep his word and abolish repressive laws such as the Sedition Act 1948 and the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

Other countries also echoed this call, arguing that it infringed on freedom of expression and media freedom.

The United States representative also expressed her country’s concern at the recent amendments made to the Prevention of Crime Act, arguing that it should not be used against people who were exercising their freedom of expression.

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