Canada’s human rights record to be examined by Universal Periodic Review

GENEVA (7 November 2023) – Canada’s human rights record will be examined by the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the fourth time on Friday, 10 November 2023, in a meeting in Geneva that will be webcast live.

Canada is one of 14 States to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during its 44th session from 6 to 17 November 2023. Canada’s first, second and third UPR reviews took place in February 2009, April 2013, and May 2018, respectively.

The UPR Working Group is comprised of the 47 Member States of the Human Rights Council. However, each of the 193 UN Member States can participate in a country review.

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.

The three reports serving as the basis for the review of Canada on 10 November can be found here.

Location: Room 20, Palais des Nations, Geneva

Time and date: 9:00 – 12:30, Friday, 10 November 2023 (Geneva time, GMT +1 hour)

The UPR is a peer 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 thrice. During the fourth 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 and highlight recent human rights developments in the country.

The delegation of Canada will be led by Mr. Arif Virani, Minister of Justice and Attorney General.

The three country representatives serving as rapporteurs (“troika”) for the review of Canada are Belgium, Kyrgyzstan and Paraguay.

The webcast of the session will be at https://media.un.org/en/asset/k14/k14bhl5fi4

The list of speakers and all available statements to be delivered during the review of Canada will be posted on the UPR Extranet.

The UPR Working Group is scheduled to adopt the recommendations made to Canada between 15:30 and 18:00 on Wednesday, 15 November 2023. The State under review may wish to express its positions on recommendations posed to it during its review.

For more information and media requests, please contact Pascal Sim, HRC Media Officer, at simp@un.org; David Díaz Martín, HRC Public Information Officer, at david.diazmartin@un.org and Verena Bongartz, HRC Public Information Officer, at verena.bongartz@un.org.

To learn more about the Universal Periodic Review, visit www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/upr/upr-main

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