In May 2009, the government's overall performance on human rights was examined for the first time through the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process. The UPR is a mechanism established in 2006 whereby the UN Human Rights Council reviews whether or not UN member states are fulfilling their human rights obligations and commitments. This page has information about the UPR process and how NGOs can be involved in it.

• About the UPR
• NZ and the UPR

• Submissions, reports, and resources - includes the UPR Outcome Report, the government's response to it, and NGO oral interventions and written statements to the Human Rights Council in September 2009; coverage of NZ's UPR, May 2009; NGO submissions to the UPR; NGO feedback on the government's draft report; a presentation on the combined NGO submissions, November 2008; and a paper on the UPR and the Pacific, December 2008

• How NGOs can be involved in the UPR: NGO comments on the government's draft UPR report, March 2009 - includes links to the draft report, information on how you can make a submission, and details of related meetings; NGOs submissions to the UPR, November 2008 - includes information about the organisations submitting combined thematic submissions
• Where you can get more information about the UPR process.

The UPR is a mechanism established in 2006 whereby the UN Human Rights Council reviews whether or not UN member states are fulfilling their human rights obligations and commitments. Each state is reviewed once every four years.

Each state's performance is reviewed in relation to the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, human rights instruments which the state is a party to, any human rights pledges it has made (such as when campaigning for election to the Human Rights Council), and applicable international humanitarian law.

Although the international human rights instruments are an essential element in assessing each state's performance, there are two big differences between the UPR process and the process of the UN human rights committees which monitor state compliance with their respective international Covenant or Convention - the UPR process is done by states, rather than independent human rights experts; and NGO submissions for the UPR process are submitted before the state report, rather than after as happens with the human rights committees.

There are several stages to the UPR process. The first stage, advance preparation of the three documents upon which reviews are based, is where NGOs can have the most input. The three documents are:

1) information prepared by the state under review;
2) a compilation of UN information on the state under review prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); and
3) a summary of information submitted by other relevant stakeholders - including NGOs, human rights defenders, National Human Rights Institutions, academic institutions and so on - which is put together by the OHCHR.

A troika, consisting of three Rapporteurs, is selected by drawing lots and its role is to assist the Working Group on the UPR (composed of the 47 member states of the Human Rights Council) - each state under review has a different troika.

The review itself takes place in Geneva in the Working Group, and takes the form of the state presenting its report, and an interactive dialogue held between the state under review and Human Rights Council member and observer states. Following the interactive dialogue, the troika prepares the report of the Working Group which contains a full account of the proceedings, with the involvement of the state under review and with the assistance of the Secretariat.

The Working Group then adopts an outcome document (report), which can be modified by states within the following two weeks. The next stage is the adoption of the report in a plenary session of the Human Rights Council.

Following the adoption of the report by the Human Rights Council, the state is required to implement the recommendations contained in it. More information on the UPR process is available here.

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NZ and the UPR

The NZ government's UPR is scheduled to take place on Thursday, 7 May, with the adoption of the report on Monday, 11 May. The troika for NZ comprises the Philippines, Italy and Mauritius.

The government's human rights performance will be reviewed in relation to the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (English / te reo Maori), and the seven core international human rights instruments it is a party to:

• International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women,
• Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,
• Convention on the Rights of the Child, and
• Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (but not the Optional Protocol).

NZ is not a state party to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families or the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The government has not as yet made any voluntary human rights pledges, although it has put itself forward for election to the Human Rights Council next year (update: this was withdrawn on 1 April 2009).

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• for responses focused on areas of the draft report relating to the Treaty of Waitangi and indigenous peoples' rights, contact the Aotearoa Indigenous Rights Trust and Peace Movement Aotearoa, email;

• for responses focused on areas of the draft report relating to civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, contact the Human Rights Foundation, email;

• for responses focused on areas of the draft report relating to children's rights, contact Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa, email.

If you are making a submission on the draft report, please consider sending a copy of it (or the link to your submission if it is on your web site) to Peace Movement Aotearoa to be uploaded to this web page - this is especially important because the UPR process results in NGO reports being submitted to the Human Rights Council before the government's report. Having NGO responses publicly available is one way to make Council members aware of what NGOs think about what the government is saying.

  * Meetings about the government's draft report

• Wellington, Monday, 2 March - the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) is holding a public consultation meeting at 2pm, Level 3, Vogel Centre, Kate Sheppard Place. For more information or to RSVP if you are planning on attending, contact Paul Rothville, tel (04) 439 8291, email.

• Auckland, Thursday, 5 March - the Human Rights Foundation is holding a civil society strategy meeting for NGOs to discuss and coordinate responses to the current stage of the UPR process. The meeting will include a report back on the Wellington MFAT consultation. If time permits, strategy in relation to other human rights processes will be discussed, in particular the voluntary pledges the government is currently forming as part of its bid for election to the Human Rights Council. From 5pm to 7pm, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Road; for more information or to RSVP if you are planning on attending, please contact Margo Baars, email. A printable flyer for the meeting is available here.

  After hearing of the NGO meeting in Auckland, MFAT subsequently arranged two additional public consultation meetings:

• Auckland, Monday, 9 March - the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) is holding a public consultation meeting from 4pm to 6pm (tea and coffee will be available from 3.45pm), Fitzroy Room, Mecure Hotel, corner of Queen and Customs Streets. For more information or to RSVP if you are planning on attending, contact Richard Kay, tel (04) 439 8298, email.
• Christchurch, Wednesday, 11 March - the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) is holding a public consultation meeting at from 1.45pm to 3.45pm, Oxford Terrace Baptist Church, corner Oxford Terrace and Madras Street. For more information or to RSVP if you are planning on attending, contact Richard Kay, tel (04) 439 8298, email.

  * Information about the government's draft report

The government's draft report is available as a pdf file and in sections as html pages. There are three ways you can make a submission on the draft report: i) via the online submissions form; ii) on the printable form which you can fill in and email or post to Richard Kay, United Nations and Commonwealth Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Private Bag 18-901, Wellington 5045, or iii) you can email or post your comments to those addresses. If you wish to make your submission publicly available on the UPR web page, it would be best if you use options ii) or iii) above so it is in a format that can be easily emailed to us.

A media release from the Human Rights Commission is available here, and the Commission's UPR report is available here.

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• Thematic joint submissions

• Children's rights: Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa, email - read this submission
• Economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights, including immigration issues, and the human rights of refugees and asylum seekers: Human Rights Foundation, email - read this submission
• Indigenous peoples' rights and the Treaty of Waitangi: Aotearoa Indigenous Rights Trust and Peace Movement Aotearoa, email - read this submission + Annex A
• Overarching NGO combined coalitions submission: Human Rights Foundation, email - read this submission

Timeline for joint submissions: as submissions have to be sent to the OHCHR by 10 November, the timeline is tight. For thematic reports, please contact the coordinating NGO and indicate an interest in contributing by Monday, 13 October; and send any content to them by Thursday, 23 October at the latest. The coordinators will then collate contributions and achieve consensus on a joint document by Friday, 31 October. This will allow time for the overarching joint submission to be finalised.

Where you can get more information about the UPR process

Information and Guidelines for Relevant Stakeholders includes information on how to make a submission to the UPR; and information about how NGOs can be involved in the UPR during and beyond the submission stage is available here.