A/HRC/8/52
page 143
379. At its 15th meeting, on 10 June 2008, the Council considered and adopted the outcome of
the review on the United Kingdom (see section C below).
380. The outcome of the review on the United Kingdom is constituted of the report of the
Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (A/HRC/8/25), together with the views of the
United Kingdom concerning the recommendations and/or conclusions, as well as its voluntary
commitments and its replies presented before the adoption of the outcome by the plenary to
questions or issues that were not sufficiently addressed during the interactive dialogue in the
Working Group (see also A/HRC/8/25/Add.1).
1. Views expressed by the State under review on the recommendations
and/or conclusions as well as on its voluntary commitments
381. The representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland referred
the meeting to the document reflecting its response to the recommendations made to the
United Kingdom during its universal periodic review on 10 April 2008 and stated that they are
also available on the Council extranet. This document is available under symbol
A/HRC/8/25/Add.1.
382. The United Kingdom stated that it gave serious consideration to every recommendation
and considered whether acceptance would improve and extend the delivery of human rights in
the United Kingdom and in its Overseas Territories.
383. The United Kingdom stated that it accepts the great majority of the recommendations
either in full or in part, and explained the reasons for not having accepted some of the
recommendations, which were a minority of them. It acknowledged that while development of
human rights is seldom an easy or straightforward option for Governments, it believed this
endeavour to be a vital test for good government.
384. After stating its view that the universal periodic review offers a genuine opportunity for
States to take a serious, self-critical look at their own human rights situation, it expressed its
appreciation for the positive and supportive response received from other States, and thanked the
President of the Council, the members of the troika, civil society and United Nations
stakeholders.
2. Views expressed by member and observer States of
the Council on the review outcome
385. Algeria thanked the United Kingdom for accepting to address the high incarceration rate of
children, while it encouraged the United Kingdom to review more thoroughly the painful
techniques applied to children and to harmonize them with their human rights obligations. It
thanked the United Kingdom for acknowledging that legislation on freedom of expression and
opinion should be in harmony with human rights obligations and for agreeing that pretrial
detention should never be excessive. It noted that the claim that the Counter-Terrorism Bill
allowing for pre-charge detention of over 40 days in the United Kingdom is hard to reconcile
with the Human Rights Committee’s recent upbraiding of Algeria for increasing pretrial
detention from 9 to 12 days. It regretted that no action is taken to accede to the International
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
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