The Joint Committee on Human Rights - the Committee made up of members from both the House of Commons and the House of Lords charged with considering human rights issues in the UK - has written in response to UNA-UK's submission on Parliamentary follow-up to the UK's Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
Submitted on 21 September 2012, UNA-UK called on the Committee to outline how it intends to monitor implementation of the UK's UPR recommendations. Currently there is no fomal process for Parliamentary oversight of this important process. The UK underwent its second review by the Human Rights Council earlier this year, resulting in 132 recommendations on a broad range of human rights issues.
Dr Hywel Francis MP, the Chair of the Committee, raised a number of ways in which the Commitee is considering involving itself in the scrutinisation of the Government's implementation of UPR recommendations, including:
- working with the national human rights institutions
- consulting civil society on the recommendations considered to be most significant in human rights terms
- prioritising 3-4 key human rights themes on which to focus
UNA-UK will continue to work with key partners in civil society, Parliament and at the grassroots to ensure the prioritisation of recommendations which strengthen engagement with UN mechanisms.
To read the Joint Committee on Human Right's letter, please click here.
For further information on UNA-UK's submission and to read the recommendations please click here.
