A/HRC/10/12
page 9
the Special Rapporteur had received contributions from Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian and
Croatian translations), Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Montenegro, Serbia, and Thailand.8 The
Government of Iraq replied advising the Special Rapporteur that it will provide a Kurdish
translation of the Declaration in the near future. The Special Rapporteur thanks these States for
their contributions, and reiterates her call to other Member States to share with her the translation
of the Declaration on human rights defenders into the principal languages of their countries.
30. On 17 October 2008, a staff member supporting the mandate attended, on behalf of the
Special Rapporteur, a workshop in Berlin organized by the Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development. The purpose of the workshop was to share ideas and approaches
with national civil society actors on how to support the work of human rights defenders, as laid
down in the 2008-2010 Development Policy Action Plan of the Ministry.
31. From 26 to 28 November 2008, a representative of OHCHR attended, on behalf of the
Special Rapporteur, the 3rd National Seminar on the Program of Protection of Human Rights
Defenders in Recife, Brazil. The OHCHR representative delivered a speech on “the
criminalization and the international protection of human rights defenders”.
II. UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW: ENHANCING THE
PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
A. The strategic value of the universal periodic review in reviewing and
potentially improving the situation of human rights defenders
1. Presentation of the universal periodic review
32. The UPR is a State-driven mechanism of the Human Rights Council which reviews on
a yearly basis the human rights records of 48 United Nations Member States. Thus, each of
the 192 Member States is reviewed once every four years. The UPR Working Group, composed
of Council members, carries out the reviews, by holding three two-week sessions per year.
Each review is facilitated by a group of three States, drawn by lot and known as the troika.
33. Reviews are based on three reports. The first report is presented by the State under review;
the second report is a compilation prepared by OHCHR of the information contained in the
reports of treaty bodies, special procedures, including observations and comments by the State
concerned, and other relevant official United Nations documents; and the third report is
presented by stakeholders such as non-governmental organizations, human rights defenders,
academic institutions and research institutes, regional organizations, and national human rights
institutions.
34. The review of each State lasts three hours and consists of an interactive dialogue between
the State under review and the Council, in which all member States and Observers are able to
participate. Stakeholders such as NGOs and national human rights institutions may also attend.
8
The translations of the Declaration on human rights defenders are available at
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/defenders/translation.htm.
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