Submissions and reports made by Human Rights in China to the United Nations Human Rights Council can be found below. HRIC's other submissions to UN bodies include various UN treaty bodies and the World Summit of Information Society.
2009 Universal Periodic Review of the People's Republic of China
On Monday, February 9, 2009, in the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, China underwent the comprehensive review of its human rights practices for the first time during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UN General Assembly, which created the Human Rights Council (replacing the old UN Commission on Human Rights), decided that the Council should undertake "a universal periodic review based upon objective and reliable information of the fulfillment by each State of its human rights obligations and commitments." HRIC attended the review session.
Each of the 192 UN member states is reviewed by its peers every four years. During the session on February 9, member states orally presented their comments and raised issues and questions regarding specific areas of China’s human rights practices. 111 member states signed up to present their oral statements. Due to time limits, most member states were not be able to speak.
In September 2008, HRIC submitted a parallel NGO report to the Human Rights Council in advance of its first review of the human rights practices of China, outlining key concerns and recommendations.
HRIC also prepared four charts that track recommendations regarding China made during the February 2009 Universal Periodic Review session:
- Summary chart of rejected UPR recommendations [PDF, 45K]
- Summary chart of accepted UPR recommendations [PDF, 42K]
- Summary chart of UPR recommendations already implemented [PDF, 18K]
- Summary chart of UPR recommendations to be examined [PDF, 20K]
Related links:
- HRIC Press Release: China Rejects UN Recommendations for Substantive Reform to Advance Human Rights; HRIC Summary (February 11, 2009)
- HRIC Press Release: China's UN Human Rights Review: New Process, Old Politics, Weak Implementation Prospects (February 9, 2009)
- China's national report: English [PDF, 220K], Chinese [PDF, 287K]
- OHCHR's summary report of NGO submissions for the PRC review: English [PDF, 78K], Chinese [PDF, 256K]
- Member states’ Advance Questions for China’s UPR: English [PDF, 44K]
- UPR webcast of the review (February 9, 2009)
- Human Rights Council main site
- Universal Periodic Review main site
