Maldives to participate in 47th session of UPR Working Group

The Maldives is set to participate in the 47th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group.

The 47th session of the UPR commenced at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, on Monday.

 The session will continue for a period of two weeks and will conclude on November 15.

During this session, 14 states will undergo the review of their respective human rights records. The countries to be reviewed are Albania, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Norway, Portugal and Qatar.

In a statement on Monday, the Maldivian Foreign Ministry announced that the Maldives’ delegation for the session will be led by Dr. Salma Rasheed, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Maldives to the UN Office at Geneva. She will be accompanied by Counsellor Adam Hamid, Counsellor Aminath Shifaya Ibrahim, Second Secretary Maryam Fathika Fayaz, and Attaché Raaidh Saeedh, from the Permanent Mission.

The Foreign Ministry said that in line with the government’s key policies and priorities, the Maldives delegation will actively engage and provide constructive recommendations during the UPR session.

The UPR Working Group holds three sessions annually. The Fourth Cycle review of the UPR began in November 2022 and will conclude in 2027.

The UPR is a state-driven process which involves a review of the overall situation of human rights of all UN member states.

This UN mechanism provides the states under review with the opportunity to declare the progress made in fulfilling their human rights obligations and commitments in their respective countries. It also allows fellow member states the opportunity to provide constructive recommendations on how the states under review can further improve the implementation of their human rights obligations.

Each state review is further facilitated by groups of three states, known as “troikas”, who serve as rapporteurs.

The Maldives as a member of the Human Rights Council has been selected to be represented in the troika for the review of Qatar.