Jordan to undergo fourth UPR by the Human Rights Council

NEW YORK – The Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) will examine Jordan's human rights for the fourth time on Thursday during a meeting that will be live-streamed online, according to a Monday announcement from the UN.

During its session from January 22 to February 2, the UPR will review 14 nations, including Jordan. Jordan’s previous three reviews were conducted in February 2009, October 2013, and November 2018, Al-Mamlaka TV reported.

The UPR is a unique process that includes a periodic review of the human rights records of all 193 UN member states. The UPR consists of the 47 member states of the Human Rights Council. However, each of the 193 UN member states can participate in a country review.

The documents on which the reviews are based are:

• National report: information provided by the state under review.
  
• Information contained in the reports of independent human rights experts and groups, known as the Special Procedures, human rights treaty bodies, and other UN entities.
  
• Information is provided by other stakeholders, including national human rights institutions, regional organizations, and civil society groups.

Since its first meeting, held in April 2008, all 193 UN member states have been reviewed three times.

During the fourth cycle of the UPR, states are again expected to demonstrate the steps they have taken to implement recommendations posed during their previous reviews, which they committed to following up on, and highlight recent human rights developments in the country.

The Jordanian team will be led by Ambassador Walid Obeidat, Jordan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, as well as officials from Finland, Ghana, and Qatar, who will serve as rapporteurs (the Troika) for Jordan's review.