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

GENEVA  – The human rights record of Bhutan will be examined by the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the fourth time on Wednesday, 6 November 2024, in a meeting in Geneva that will be webcast live.

Bhutan is one of 14 States to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during its upcoming session from 4 to 15 November 2024. The first, second and third UPR reviews of Bhutan took place in December 2009, April 2014, and May 2019, 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 Bhutan on 6 November can be found here.

Location: Room 20, Palais des Nations, Geneva.

Time and date: 14:30 – 18:00, Wednesday, 6 November 2024 (Geneva time, GMT+1).

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 Bhutan will be led by D.N. Dhungyel, Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade. 

The three country representatives serving as rapporteurs (“troika”) for the review of Bhutan are Costa Rica, Malaysia and the United States of America. 

The webcast of the session will be at: https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1x/k1xn6vzv73

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

The UPR Working Group is scheduled to adopt the recommendations made to Bhutan on Wednesday, 13 November 2024, between 15:30 and 18:00 (GMT+1). 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; Matthew Brown, HRC Public Information Officer, at matthew.brown@un.org and David Díaz Martín, HRC Public Information Officer at david.diazmartin@un.org.

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

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