Ireland and the Universal Periodic Review: A Two way Process

Following years of criticism of the Human Rights Commission, the United Nations (UN) created a new human rights institution, the Human Rights Council, in March 2006. The associated resolution mandated the new Human Rights Council to ‘undertake a universal periodic review, based on objective and reliable information, of the fulfilment by each state of its human rights obligations and commitments in a manner which ensures universality of coverage and equal treatment with respect to all States’.1 The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is designed as a type of peer review where states are provided with an opportunity to present a report on human rights laws and practices in their state, on which all other states can then refer questions and recommendations. The establishment of the review process has been widely welcomed and has been described as ‘an undertaking imbued with a shift from the former Commission’s policies and practice of shaming to a new consensual and cooperative model of human rights evaluation’.2 The review process began in 2008 and 48 states are reviewed every year. Ireland was reviewed for the first time in October 2011.3 The first cycle of reviews has now finished and the second round of reviews begun in May 2012. This short note analyses and assesses the review of Ireland’s human rights record through the UPR process. Firstly, the note will provide an introduction to the UPR process. Secondly, the Irish report will be examined and the top five issues arising from Ireland’s review will be highlighted. Finally, the note will analyse the importance of the UPR in the Irish context and the future development of Irish human rights law as a result of this review process