Item 6: General Statement
Statement by the Delegation of the United States of America
As Delivered by Kim D’Auria-Vazira
Human Rights Council 22nd Session
Geneva
March 15, 2013
Thank you, Mr. President.
The United States believes the Universal Periodic Review can and does effect real change in countries throughout the world. The UPR is not just something that occurs in Geneva every four-and-a-half years. It is an ongoing tool to advance human rights.
The United States believes that the objective of the UPR, to improve the human rights situation on the ground, is best achieved when states give recommendations that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. As states providing recommendations, we have a responsibility to provide ones that are useful to the State Under Review. Our interventions to other countries are crafted with the goal of providing targeted recommendations that, when implemented, will create positive change for society.
The most useful recommendations focus on a specific action, address issues at the core of a state’s human rights situation, relate to issues that are current, can be measured as complete or incomplete and accomplished in the four-and-a-half years between reviews.
When states have received such recommendations, the Universal Periodic Review resulted in real change to the human rights situations in many countries. These changes include the adoption of new laws, implementation of treaties, creation of human rights offices, an elevated awareness of human rights in society, and much more.
We urge states that give recommendations during UPRs to make them as useful as possible to the state under review. To achieve that goal, we encourage states to make their recommendations specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.