From Commitment to Action on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights – Lessons from the Second Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique human rights monitoring mechanism where the human rights record of each of the 193 United Nations Member States is reviewed every 4.5 years by other Member States. During the second ycle (2012–16), the UPR continued to facilitate dialogue between Member States on the critical human rights issues of our time, and positioned the mechanism as an important platform to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and strengthen accountability for SRHR.
This report follows up the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) 2014 report from the first cycle of the UPR, Lessons from the First Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review: From Commitment to action on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.
The 2014 report showed that more than a quarter of all recommendations and voluntary commitments related to SRHR.
This report assesses the successes, challenges and opportunities that the second cycle offered, and how these lessons can inform and support governments, the United Nations system, civil society and other stakeholders engage throughout the third cycle.
With national and global attention focused on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UPR can play an important role in guiding action and strengthening accountability. The UPR can accelerate SDG implementation by identifying critical issues and groups that need attention and requiring States to take action.
It can also help assess SDG implementation by highlighting progress made and remaining gaps. Moreover, as the SDGs do not cover all aspects of SRHR, the UPR can help ensure continued political attention and accountability on all dimensions of SRHR.