GENEVA (27 April 2017) – Tunisia’s human rights record will be examined by the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the third time on Tuesday, 2 May 2017 in a meeting that will be webcast live.

Tunisia is one of the 14 States to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during its upcoming session taking place from 1 to 12 May, which also marks the commencement of the third UPR cycle.  Tunisia’s first and second UPR reviews took place in April 2008 and May 2012, respectively.

The documents on which the reviews are based are: 1) national report - information provided by the State under review; 2) information contained in the reports of independent human rights experts and groups, known as the Special Procedures, human rights treaty bodies, and other UN entities; 3) information provided by other stakeholders including national human rights institutions, regional organizations and civil society groups.

Among the issues raised in the above-mentioned documents are: the harmonization of national legislation with the Constitution and international standards; the establishment of an independent national human rights institution; the abolition "de jure" of the death penalty; impunity of enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, torture, police violence and reprisals, particularly in counter-terrorism operations; guaranteeing the rights to assembly, expression and privacy; addressing the excessive use of the ‘state of emergency’; alleviating prison overcrowding and investigating cases of death in custody; countering all forms of discrimination and stigmatization based on race, gender, age, religion and sexual orientation, as well as of the Amazigh minority; combatting violence against women; and poverty reduction and equal access to health-care services, housing, employment and education, particularly in rural areas.  

The three reports serving as the basis for the review of Tunisia on 2 May can be found here: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/TNSession27.aspx

Location: Room 20, Palais des Nations, Geneva
Time and date: 09.00 – 12.30, Tuesday, 2 May (Geneva time, GMT +1 hour)

The UPR is a unique process which involves a periodic review of the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States.  Since its first meeting was held in April 2008, all 193 UN member States have been reviewed twice within the first and second UPR cycles.  During the third UPR cycle, States are again expected to spell out steps they have taken to implement recommendations posed during their previous reviews which they committed to follow-up on, as well as to highlight recent human rights developments in the country.

The delegation of Tunisia will be headed by Mr. Mehdi Ben Gharbia, Minister of Relations with the Constitutional Authorities, Civil Society and Human Rights.

The three country representatives serving as rapporteurs (“troika”) for the review of Tunisia are: Qatar, Rwanda and Netherlands.

The webcast of the session will be at http://webtv.un.org

The list of speakers and all available statements to be delivered during the review of Tunisia will be posted on the UPR Extranet at the following link: https://extranet.ohchr.org/sites/upr/Sessions/27session/Tunisia/Pages/default.aspx 

The UPR Working Group is scheduled to adopt the recommendations made to Tunisia at 16.00 on 5 May.  The State under review may wish to express its positions on recommendations posed to it during their review.  The recommendations will be shared with the media on this day in advance.    

ENDS

To learn more about the Universal Periodic Review, visit: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRMain.aspx

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