Participate in the Consultation of the Arqus UPR Implementation Collaborative Project about Human Rights Performance

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Implementation Collaborative Project team, one of the successful projects selected in the first call of the Student Co-Designed Projects of the Arqus Student Agora, invites the Arqus community of students, PhD candidates and professors to participate in a consultation about the human rights performance in Angola, Bolivia, Italy, and Turkey.

The Universal Periodic Review is a unique process that involves a periodic review of the human rights records of all 193 United Nations (UN) Member States. The Arqus UPR Implementation Collaborative Project aims to investigate the practical implementation of the UPR recommendations in some states.

The Project, initiated by an international team of students and former delegates of the Padua Model UPR, aims to harness the collective expertise of students of the Arqus universities to collect and elaborate data on the human rights performance of different states that may be relevant for the UPR conducted by the UN Human Rights Council.

The Padua-based team has selected four countries that will be under review in the 46th, 47th and 48th UPR sessions in 2024 and early 2025, namely Angola, Bolivia, Italy, and Turkey. The team seeks to shed light on the efforts undertaken by governments and civil society organizations to implement the UPR recommendations in view of the next UPR. In particular, the topics chosen are the following: gender equality and child marriage in Angola, social security and adequate housing in Bolivia, racial discrimination and migrants’ rights in Italy, and gender equality and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) in Turkey.

In order to collect information (reports, data, testimonies, experiences, etc.) from relevant stakeholders in these countries, the Padua-based team encourages students, PhD candidates, and professors to share their knowledge and contacts on the selected states and related topics, and help spread awareness about this critical international human rights procedure, by filling out this Google Form.

The results of this consultation will be presented next 23rd November during the week of the Padua Model UPR, with the presence of Mr. Guillaume Ngefa, Chief of the UPR Branch of the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights’ Office.

Get involved. All contributions are welcome!