The Islamic Republic of Iran is presenting its fourth report at the 48th UPR session of the UN Human Rights Council.
The 48th UPR session of the UN Human Rights Council is currently underway at the Human Rights Council headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland; one of the countries presenting and defending its report during this session is the Islamic Republic of Iran.
What is the UPR?
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism, as a monitoring body of the UN Human Rights Council, aims to review the human rights situation of all UN Member States on an equal and non-selective basis. It is a unique process that includes a periodic review of the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States.
The UPR, a program of the Human Rights Council founded in March 2006 on the principle of equal treatment for all nations, gives all governments a chance to talk about and report on the actions they have taken to enhance their nations' human rights conditions and remove obstacles to exercising their rights.
The Human Rights Council's 47 members establish a timeline for UN member states to present and defend their national reports.
There isn't another mechanism of this kind at the moment, so the UPR also involves sharing human rights practices globally.
No party can refuse to review the human rights situation under this mechanism; so far, only once has the Zionist regime deliberately refused to participate in a review session, which was met with a reaction from the Human Rights Council.
The UN Human Rights Council decided to postpone the review of the regime’s human rights situation to the next session.
How many UPR sessions have been held so far?
The UPR has reviewed the human rights conditions of UN member states in 47 meetings since its founding.
From January 20 to January 31, 2025, the 48th UPR summit will take place at the UN Human Rights Council.
How is the UPR review process?
Each round of review is divided into several working group sessions; each country session will last three and a half hours (210 minutes); 70 minutes of the time will be allocated to the country under review, which it can divide as it sees fit.
Some countries will make a short introductory speech and then leave it to their delegation members to give explanations; in some countries, the explanations will be mainly the responsibility of a few key members of the delegation.
The time allocated to the State under review will be divided into 2 or 3 parts (depending on the number of countries registering to speak); in the first half, the State under review will give explanations, and then the other member states will present their comments.
After hearing the comments of some countries, the Chairman of the Delegation or members of the State under review will again have the opportunity to provide explanations.
The order of the discussions will be as follows:
First, the Chairman of the Delegation’s speech; Each delegation has a total of 70 minutes, which they manage by dividing it up; usually, the chairman of the delegation first gives a general overview including answers to questions raised in advance.
Second, the countries start asking questions; the number of times allocated to the country's speech depends on the number of speakers; in some cases, the country's speech is in 2 parts and in some cases in 3 parts.
Third, according to the delegation chairman's division of work, the relevant delegation responds to the inquiries.
Fourth, the countries ask questions.
Fifth, according to the delegation chairman's division of work, the relevant delegation responds to the inquiries.
Sixth, the countries ask questions; if the number of country speeches is not large, there will be a sixth part.
Seventh, according to the delegation chairman's division of work, the relevant delegation responds to the inquiries.
Eighth, The chairman of the delegation's conclusion.
How many UPR reports has Iran submitted?
The Islamic Republic of Iran has so far taken part in three rounds of the United Nations Human Rights Council's UPR mechanism evaluation of the human rights situation, which took place in 2009, 2014, and 2019.
Which countries’ reports will be reviewed at the 48th UPR session?
The 14 countries under review at the 48th UPR session are: Angola, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Gambia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, San Marino, and Slovenia.
When will the session to review Iran’s UPR report be held at the 48th session?
According to the schedule set by the UPR Working Group, Iran will hold its fourth periodic report on its human rights situation on Friday, 24 January 2025 from 9:00 to 12:30 Geneva time.
The High Council for Human Rights, as the national authority for the UPR, previously prepared its fourth national report in cooperation with relevant agencies and submitted it to the UPR Secretariat of the Human Rights Council on October 7, 2024.