UPR Standing Committee holds 18th meeting in Abu Dhabi

The Standing Committee responsible for monitoring the Universal Periodic Review, UPR, of the United Nations, UN, Human Rights Council, held its 18th meeting today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Abu Dhabi, under the chairmanship of Dr. Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Committee.

During the meeting, the Committee presented the country’s approved recommendations during a discussion session on the second national report on the UAE’s participation in the UPR, which was held on 6th June, 2013, at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The UAE has made considerable efforts to implement these recommendations.

The Committee also discussed the upcoming third report, which is planned to be delivered to the General Secretariat of the UN Human Rights Council at the end of October.

The Committee was established according to Cabinet Decision No. 4/51 and /2 (2010) on 21st March, 2010, as the authority responsible for supervising the implementation of the country’s commitments to the UN Human Rights Council, as well as monitoring its UPR report and all related human rights issues.

The Committee is also concerned with supervising the adoption of a national plan regarding the voluntary pledges and recommendations issued by the Human Rights Council, as well as monitoring its execution and preparing the reports required by the Council on the UAE’s human rights commitments and the co-operation between its federal and local authorities, to spread awareness about human rights issues, adopt the recommendations of the UPR report, and share relevant information and data.

The Committee’s membership includes several federal government authorities and civil society organisations.